Last week, we discussed how the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) had just capped off its fifth week in a row of week-to-week gains. Well, that venerable streak ended last week on the Australian share market. The ASX 200 ended up in the red by Friday afternoon after a dramatic week.
In a move perhaps obvious in hindsight, some shares that have come to be perceived as 'lockdown winners' rallied hard on Friday as it became clear Sydney would be facing another lockdown, its first (outside the Northern Beaches) in over a year.
Shares like Kogan.com Ltd (ASX: KGN), Afterpay Ltd (ASX: APT) and Temple & Webster Group Ltd (ASX: TPW) saw a big uptick in valuation by the end of the week and ended up being among the ASX 200's best performers over the whole week (more on that later).
ASX resources shares also had a great week. The big miners like BHP Group Ltd (ASX: BHP) and Rio Tinto Limited (ASX: RIO) had strong performances. BHP shares were up close to 3% last week, with Rio rallying a more modest 1.4%. A big infrastructure deal that President Joe Biden announced last week may have been a catalyst here.
A week to forget…
But this strength in one niche of the market wasn't enough to prevent a loss overall for the ASX 200. ASX banks led the selloff (as we know, it's hard for the ASX 200 to rise if the banks are in the red). Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA) shares led these losses, with the CBA share down a nasty 4.3% to back under $100 over last week. But Westpac Banking Corp (ASX: WBC), National Australia Bank Ltd (ASX: NAB) and Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd (ASX: ANZ) were down 3.7%, 2.6% and 2.4% respectively.
But perhaps the biggest story on the ASX last week was the long-awaited demerger of the Woolworths Group Ltd (ASX: WOW) Endeavour business. This is now officially an independently listed company – Endeavour Group Ltd (ASX: EDV) – on the ASX. It's also now a straight-in member of the top 50 ASX companies.
Woolworths shareholders were issued one Endeavour Group share for every one Woolworths share owned. And so far, it's been a mixed story. Woolies shares opened 13.6% lower on Thursday morning at $36.71 per share when the split became official. And investors may not have ended up ahead by the end of Endeavour's first week of independence. After listing at $6.50 on Thursday morning, the Endeavour share price fell to $6.07 by the end of trading and closed up for the day on Friday at $6.10.
How did the markets end the week?
Not too well. The ASX 200 started the week out at 7,369.9 points and finished up at 7,308 points – a fall of 0.84%. Monday gave us the worst day of the week, with a hefty fall of 1.81%. Tuesday reversed some of these losses with a healthy gain of 1.48%. But back-to-back losses of 0.6% and 0.32% on Wednesday and Thursday really set things in stone. Friday's 0.45% rally wasn't enough to pull the ASX back into the green, with the index finishing down for the whole week.
Meanwhile, the All Ordinaries Index (ASX: XAO) also had a rather lousy week. The All Ords started out at 7,624.3 points and finished up at 7,578.6 points – a fall of 0.6%.
Which ASX 200 shares were the biggest winners and losers?
Time now for our most salacious segment, where we look at the ASX 200's best winners and poorest losers. So get the chins a-wagging as we, as always, start with the losers:
| Worst ASX 200 losers | % loss for the week |
|---|---|
| Woolworths Group Ltd (ASX: WOW) | (13.8%) |
| Codan Limited (ASX: CDA) | (8.8%) |
| Nuix Ltd (ASX: NXL) | (8.6%) |
| Mesoblast Limited (ASX: MSB) | (6.9%) |
Woolies ended up being the worst-performing ASX 200 share last week, with its Endeavour demerger clinching the wooden spoon for the grocer. But, as we discussed above, shareholders can't complain too much, having voted for the demerger in the first place and receiving Endeavour shares in the process. And a demerger is one of the best reasons to have a share price fall (along with shares going ex-dividend).
Apart from Woolies, Codan was the ASX 200's worst-performing share last week, losing a hefty 8.8%. It's not exactly obvious why Codan shares fell last week. But, as my Fool colleague James Mickeboro pointed out during the week, a weak gold price and some share sales from the company's CEO may not have helped.
ASX tech share Nuix wasn't swept up in the 'lockdown rally' that some other tech shares saw. It finished the week down close to 9% as well. News that a search warrant was reportedly executed by the Australian Federal Police at Nuix's office might have been the reason investors were hitting the sell button (again) with this company, pushing it to new all-time lows.
Finally, Mesoblast was also on investors' hit lists, despite no major news coming out of the medical company.
Now with the losers out of the way, let's now take a look at last week's winners:
| Best ASX 200 gainers | % gain for the week |
|---|---|
| Afterpay Ltd (ASX: APT) | 12.8% |
| Kogan.com Ltd (ASX: KGN) | 11.1% |
| Boral Limited (ASX: BLD) | 8.3% |
| Adbri Ltd (ASX: ABC) | 6.8% |
Buy now, pay later (BNPL) pioneer Afterpay was indeed the best-performing ASX 200 share on the markets last week. A new development with the company's 'not a credit card' seemed to be the driving force here.
'Lockdown winner' Kogan was another strong performer, putting on an additional 11.1%. There was no major news or announcements out of Kogan, so perhaps it's all lockdown sentiment here.
Construction materials company Boral was also on fire last week. A couple of things were going on here. Firstly, Seven Group Holdings Ltd (ASX: SVW) upped its takeover offer for Boral to $7.40 per share, albeit "under certain circumstances". Secondly, Boral announced the sale of its North American building products business to the US company Westlake Chemical Corporation. Both of these announcements seemed to have been welcomed by investors.
And finally, fellow construction company Adbri was also a beneficiary of positive investing sentiment last week. There was no news or announcements out of Adbri. So perhaps some goodwill from the Boral developments spilled over into the Adbri share price.
A wrap of the ASX 200 blue-chip shares
Before we go, here is a look at the major ASX 200 blue-chip shares as we commence yet another week on the ASX boards:
| ASX 200 company | Trailing P/E ratio | Last share price | 52-week high | 52-week low |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CSL Limited (ASX: CSL) | 36.9 | $285.13 | $320.42 | $242 |
| Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA) | 22.08 | $99.26 | $106.57 | $62.64 |
| Westpac Banking Corp (ASX: WBC) | 22.16 | $25.89 | $27.12 | $16 |
| Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd (ASX: ANZ) | 17.13 | $28.28 | $29.64 | $16.40 |
| National Australia Bank Ltd (ASX: NAB) | 20.09 | $26.18 | $27.84 | $16.56 |
| Fortescue Metals Group Limited (ASX: FMG) | 8.4 | $22.92 | $26.40 | $13.60 |
| Telstra Corporation Ltd (ASX: TLS) | 24.09 | $3.59 | $3.63 | $2.66 |
| Woolworths Group Ltd (ASX: WOW) | 32.83 | $36.78 | $44.06 | $35.66 |
| Wesfarmers Ltd (ASX: WES) | 34.81 | $57.72 | $58.87 | $43.06 |
| BHP Group Ltd (ASX: BHP) | 26.33 | $47.90 | $51.82 | $33.73 |
| Rio Tinto Limited (ASX: RIO) | 15.77 | $125.22 | $132.94 | $90.04 |
| Coles Group Ltd (ASX: COL) | 21.4 | $16.83 | $19.26 | $15.28 |
| Transurban Group (ASX: TCL) | – | $14.54 | $15.64 | $12.36 |
| Sydney Airport Holdings Pty Ltd (ASX: SYD) | – | $5.86 | $7.49 | $4.99 |
| Newcrest Mining Ltd (ASX: NCM) | 16.48 | $26.14 | $38.15 | $23.08 |
| Woodside Petroleum Limited (ASX: WPL) | – | $22.54 | $27.60 | $16.80 |
| Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX: MQG) | 18.79 | $154.93 | $162.06 | $114.50 |
| Afterpay Ltd (ASX: APT) | – | $129 | $160.05 | $55.30 |
And finally, here is the lay of the land for some leading market indicators:
- S&P/ASX 200 Index (XJO) at 7,308 points.
- All Ordinaries Index (XAO) at 7,578.6 points.
- Dow Jones Industrial Average Index (DJX: .DJI) at 34,434 points after rising 0.69% on Friday night (our time).
- Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) going for US$33,103 per coin.
- Gold (spot) swapping hands for US$1,781 per troy ounce.
- Iron ore asking US$211.58 per tonne.
- Crude oil (Brent) trading at US$76.18 per barrel.
- Australian dollar buying 75.88 US cents.
- 10-year Australian Government bonds yielding 1.56% per annum.
That's all folks. See you next week!
