ASX 200 opens higher on Friday: IOOF share price plunges 30% lower

The Australian share market opened higher on Friday with the healthcare and financial sectors among the best early performers.

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The Australian share market opened higher on Friday with the healthcare and financial sectors among the best early performers after shrugging off a choppy Wall Street session and subdued oil prices.

The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index climbed 37.4 points, or 0.66%, to 5,695.1 at 1030 AEDT on Friday, while the broader All Ordinaries is up 34.5 points, or 0.6%, to 5,771.2.

A flat open looked to be on the cards with US stocks mostly down overnight on mounting worries of slowing global growth, and tensions over the arrest and potential extradition of a Huawei Technologies executive to the US.

Instead, the local market jumped, with the big banks in the black early.

National Australia Bank Ltd. (ASX: NAB) was the best performer of the big four, up 1.21% to $24.23, followed by Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ASX: ANZ) with a 1.17% jump to $25.97.

Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX: MQG) was up 2.17% to $114.48 and Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA) rose 0.44% to $69.98.

Beleaguered wealth manager IOOF Holdings Limited (ASX: IFL) was a rare spot of red on the benchmark, dropping nearly 30% to $5.17 after the prudential regulator moved to disqualify its top brass and impose new license conditions following allegations of wrongdoing.

Biotech giant CSL Limited (ASX: CSL) rose 1.69% to $182.265 to lift the healthcare sector, also supported by gains for ResMed Inc. (ASX: RMD), Cochlear Limited (ASX: COH) and Ramsay Health Care Limited (ASX: RHC).

BlueScope Steel Limited (ASX: BSL) led the gains for the miners, up 1.52% to $12.03 despite industrial metals taking a hit overnight.

Rio Tinto Limited (ASX: RIO) was up 0.66% to $72.69, while BHP Billiton Limited (ASX: BHP) was flat at $31.38.

Fortescue Metals Group Limited (ASX: FMG), and South32 Ltd (ASX: S32) rose 0.74% and 0.66% while the gold miners continued to climb on near five-month highs for the yellow metal.

Adelaide Brighton Ltd. (ASX: ABC) was down 7.88% to $4.735 after it downgraded its earnings forecast.

Shares in consumer staples and discretionaries were up, as were the energy and tech sectors.

with AAP

The Motley Fool Australia owns shares of National Australia Bank Limited. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Cochlear Ltd., Ramsay Health Care Limited, and ResMed Inc. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

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