Friday 20 August 2021 | Close

	Foreign Equities	Close	Change	%Change
	Dow Jones (US)	35120	226	0.65
	S&P 500	4442	36	0.81
	NASDAQ	14715	173	1.19
	FTSE 100 Index	7088	29	0.41
	DAX 30	15808	42	0.27
	CAC 40	6626	20	0.31
	Nikkei 225 (Japan)	27013	-268	-0.98
	HKSE	24850	-467	-1.84
	SSE Composite Index	3427	-38	-1.10
	NZ 50	12975	35	0.27

Friday 20 August 2021 | Close

	Commodities	US$	Close	Change	%Change
	Aluminium	/t	2563	0	0.02
	Copper	/t	9044	150	1.69
	Nickel	/t	18479	95	0.52
	Gold	/oz	1778	-3	-0.15
	Silver	/oz	23.0	0.0	0.09
	Oil - West Texas crude	/bbl	62.1	-1.4	-2.14
	Lead	/t	2448	-20	-0.83
	Zinc	/t	2924	-29	-1.00

Friday 20 August 2021 | Close

	Currency	Close	Pts Change	% Change
	$A vs $US	0.7137	0.0024	0.34
	$A vs GBP	0.5239	--	--
	$A vs YEN	78.40	0.06	0.08
	$A vs EUR	0.6103	0.0005	0.08
	$A vs $NZ	1.0448	0.0004	0.04
	$US vs Euro	0.8552	0.0003	0.04
	$US vs UK	0.7340	0.0001	0.01
	$US vs CHF	0.9176	0.0009	0.10

[Morningstar with AAP]: Wall Street rallied to close sharply higher at the close of a tumultuous week on waning concerns over whether the US Federal Reserve could begin tightening its dovish monetary policy sooner than expected.

Asia

At the close, China's Shanghai Composite index was down 1.10 per cent at 3,427.33.

The Hang Seng index, used to record and monitor daily changes of the largest companies of the Hong Kong stock market, closed down 1.84 per cent at 24,849.72.

Japan's Nikkei 225 was down 0.98 per cent at 27,013.25.

Europe

The pan-European STOXX 600 index, which tracks the return of the largest listed companies across 17 European countries, was up at 468.80.

The German DAX was up at 15,808.04.

North America

Wall Street rallied to close sharply higher at the close of a tumultuous week on waning concerns over whether the US Federal Reserve could begin tightening its dovish monetary policy sooner than expected.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 222.15 points, or 0.64 per cent, to 35,116.27, the S&P 500 gained 35.79 points, or 0.81 per cent, to 4,441.59 and the Nasdaq Composite added 169.95 points, or 1.17 per cent, to 14,711.73.

While all three major US indexes ended solidly green, all posted weekly losses after a steep mid-week sell-off pulled the S&P 500 and the Dow away from a string of record closing highs.

"Towards the beginning of the week you saw traders balancing their books ahead of the Fed statement," said Matthew Keator, managing partner in the Keator Group, a wealth management firm in Lenox, Massachusetts. "And once the statement came out, you saw a bit of 'sell the rumour buy the news.'"

Market-leading tech and tech-adjacent megacaps, which weathered the pandemic recession better than most, once again provided the biggest boost.

Growth stocks were also given a boost by US Treasury yields, which ended the week lower due to concerns the health crisis could be a longer than expected hindrance to economic revival.

Announcements from a host of Asian nations that they are implementing drastic measures to curb the resurgence of COVID-19 due to the rise of the disease's highly contagious Delta variant, put a damper on stocks associated with economic re-engagement.

Mixed economic data from the US and China suggested the ongoing recovery from the most abrupt recession on record has passed its peak and lost some momentum.

Market participants now look to next week's Jackson Hole Symposium, a gathering of major central bank leaders, for clues from Fed Chair Jerome Powell regarding the expected pace of recovery and the timeline for policy tightening.

"We've seen times in history where the Jackson Hole Symposium has drawn a lot of eyeballs but this year more so," Keator added. "The Fed might use this opportunity to communicate what their plan is going forward."

All 11 major sectors of the S&P 500 ended the session higher.

Second-quarter reporting season has essentially run its course, with 476 of the companies in the S&P 500 having posted results. Of those, 87.4 per cent have beaten consensus, according to Refinitiv data.

Farm and construction equipment manufacturer Deere & Co beat quarterly profit expectations and raised its full year guidance due to robust demand. Still, its shares lost ground.

Bristol-Myers Squibb advanced after the US Food and Drug Administration approved the drugmaker's cancer drug Opdivo.

US-listed shares of China-based tech-related companies oscillated as market participants digested recent sell-offs resulting from Beijing's ongoing regulatory crackdown, which has wiped half a trillion dollars from Chinese markets this week.