The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) finished the 2021 financial year on a high last week, and managed to also shake off some early market jitters to finish (barely) the week in the green.
The financial year ended on Wednesday afternoon for ASX shares. And what a financial year it was. As we covered extensively here on the Fool, the ASX 200 managed its best performance for a financial year ever, with the index gaining a record 24% over FY21.
The All Ordinaries Index (ASX: XAO), which has been around for far longer than the ASX 200, managed its best financial year performance since the 1980s, with a gain of 26.5%.
Moving on from the indexes, and we saw some interesting moves from ASX shares last week.
To start things off, most of the major ASX banks had a good week. The glaring exception was Westpac Banking Corp (ASX: WBC), which ended the week almost 1% lower following the revelation that the ASX bank might be exposed to an alleged $200 million fraud case.
The big miners in BHP Group Ltd (ASX: BHP), Rio Tinto Limited (ASX: RIO) and Fortescue Metals Group Limited (ASX: FMG) also all had a strong week, perhaps buoyed by rising oil prices and a still-robust iron ore market.
Last week's ASX 200 trash is this week's treasure
Some of the other top performers last week were ASX shares that have seemingly been shunned by investors in recent weeks.
Travel shares like Qantas Airways Ltd (ASX: QAN), Flight Centre Travel Group Ltd (ASX: FLT), Webjet Ltd (ASX: WEB) and Corporate Travel Management Ltd (ASX: CTD) all rose between 2% and 5%, despite the ongoing coronavirus lockdown happening in NSW.
Other ASX shares that seemed to experience something of a rebound last week include A2 Milk Company Ltd (ASX: A2M) and Nuix Ltd (ASX: NXL). Saying that, Afterpay Ltd (ASX: APT) and Zip Co Ltd (ASX: Z1P) both had nasty weeks, falling 7.5% and 8.3% respectively.
How did the markets end the week?
It was actually a pretty flat week on the ASX 200 last week.
The index started the week out at 7,308 points and ended the week at 7,308.6 points – a rather minuscule rise of 0.008%. Monday started things off with a flat day, falling 0.01%. Tuesday was also pretty flat, with the ASX 200 shedding 0.08%. Wednesday brought the first day in the green, with the ASX 200 rising 0.16%. this was followed by a 0.65% fall on Thursday, which was somewhat reversed by Friday's 0.59% gain.
Meanwhile, the All Ordinaries Index (ASX: XAO) also had a rather lousy week. The All Ords started out at 7,578.6 points and finished up at 7,587.1 points – a slight improvement over the ASX 200 with a gain of 0.11%.
Which ASX 200 shares were the biggest winners and losers?
Time now for our Foolish gossip pages, where we look at the ASX 200's best winners and poorest losers of the week that was. So put the kettle on as we start with the losers, as always:
| Worst ASX 200 losers | % loss for the week |
|---|---|
| Collins Foods Ltd (ASX: CKF) | (13.1%) |
| AGL Energy Limited (ASX: AGL) | (10%) |
| Bega Cheese Ltd (ASX: BGA) | (9.7%) |
| Pointsbet Holdings Ltd (ASX: PBH) | (9.6%) |
Kentucky Fried Chicken purveyor Collins Foods was the ASX 200's wooden spooner last week, with a loss of just over 13%. A rather interesting thing happened with Collins Foods last week. The company released its full-year earnings results on Tuesday, which initially saw the company hit a record high. But Collins spent the rest of the week sharply falling away from those highs, for no obvious reason.
Embattled energy utility AGL was also out of favour at week. This ASX stalwart released an update for its upcoming plans to split its business in two on Wednesday. Investors have previously been a little unsure about these plans, but the mood seemed unambiguously hostile following this latest announcement. Its planned split is scheduled to take place in the fourth quarter of the 2022 financial year.
Next up we have dairy giant Bega Cheese. Bega fell a nasty 9.7% last week, despite there being no news or major announcements out of the company whatsoever. Bega has been on an upward trajectory ever since its acquisition of the Lion Dairy and Drinks' portfolio late last year. Perhaps some profit taking was happening here.
And finally, we have Pointsbet Holdings. Once again, there were no major news or announcements out of this gaming company. However, this company's share price weakness might have been related to therather dramatic IPO of another gaming company last week, that of BlueBet Holdings (ASX: BBT). Investors don't normally like to see increased competition coming into a market, after all.
Now with the losers out of the way, let's take a look at last week's winning shares:
| Best ASX 200 gainers | % gain for the week |
|---|---|
| IDP Education Ltd (ASX: IEL) | 17.8% |
| Mineral Resources Ltd (ASX: MIN) | 9.5% |
| Harvey Norman Holdings Limited (ASX: HVN) | 8.1% |
| Clinuvel Pharmaceuticals Limited (ASX: CUV) | 5.8% |
The best performing ASX 200 share last week was IDP Education. IDP seemed to be in the hot zone for investors last week when the company announced a new acquisition on Friday. That would be the Indian International English Language Testing System, which IDP is buying from British Council for $240 million. Investors seemed to be approving of this move.
Mineral Resources is next up. This company, once again, did not put out any major news or announcements last week that might have catalysed a move of this nature. However, my Fool colleague Kerry Sunrecently posited that a renewed interest in lithium from ASX investors may have helped.
The hardly normal Harvey Norman was another ASX 200 share that enjoyed a solid week last week. And one that also moved for no obvious reason. The same can be said of pharma company Clinuvel Pharmaceuticals.
A wrap of the ASX 200 blue-chip shares
Before we go, here is a look at how the major ASX 200 blue-chip shares are faring as we commence yet another week in paradise:
| ASX 200 company | Last share price | Trailing P/E ratio | Trailing Dividend Yield | 52-week high | 52-week low |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CSL Limited (ASX: CSL) | $284.19 | 36.58 | 0.99% | $320.42 | $242 |
| Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA) | $99.49 | 22.13 | 2.49% | $106.57 | $62.64 |
| Westpac Banking Corp (ASX: WBC) | $25.64 | 21.94 | 3.47% | $27.12 | $16 |
| Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd (ASX: ANZ) | $28.32 | 17.16 | 3.71% | $29.64 | $16.40 |
| National Australia Bank Ltd (ASX: NAB) | $26.23 | 20.13 | 3.43% | $27.84 | $16.56 |
| Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX: MQG) | $156.91 | 19.03 | 3% | $162.06 | $117.66 |
| Fortescue Metals Group Limited (ASX: FMG) | $23.58 | 8.59 | 10.47% | $26.40 | $13.60 |
| BHP Group Ltd (ASX: BHP) | $48.55 | 26.54 | 4.26% | $51.82 | $33.73 |
| Rio Tinto Limited (ASX: RIO) | $125.71 | 15.74 | 4.88% | $132.94 | $90.04 |
| Newcrest Mining Ltd (ASX: NCM) | $25.36 | 15.9 | 1.72% | $38.15 | $23.08 |
| Woodside Petroleum Limited (ASX: WPL) | $22.95 | – | 2.25% | $27.60 | $16.80 |
| Telstra Corporation Ltd (ASX: TLS) | $3.79 | 25.43 | 4.22% | $3.79 | $2.66 |
| Woolworths Group Ltd (ASX: WOW) | $37.59 | 33.55 | 2.69% | $44.06 | $35.96 |
| Wesfarmers Ltd (ASX: WES) | $59.03 | 35.6 | 2.8% | $59.60 | $43.50 |
| Coles Group Ltd (ASX: COL) | $16.72 | 21.26 | 3.62% | $19.26 | $15.28 |
| Transurban Group (ASX: TCL) | $14.29 | – | 2.55% | $15.64 | $12.36 |
| Sydney Airport Holdings Pty Ltd (ASX: SYD) | $5.81 | – | – | $7.49 | $4.99 |
| Afterpay Ltd (ASX: APT) | $118.29 | – | – | $160.05 | $59.66 |
And finally, here is the lay of the land for some leading market indicators:
- S&P/ASX 200 Index (XJO) at 7,308.6 points.
- All Ordinaries Index (XAO) at 7,587.1 points.
- Dow Jones Industrial Average Index (DJX: .DJI) at 34,786 points after rising 0.44% on Friday night (our time).
- Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) going for US$35,511 per coin.
- Gold (spot) swapping hands for US$1,787 per troy ounce.
- Iron ore asking US$212 per tonne.
- Crude oil (Brent) trading at US$76.17 per barrel.
- Australian dollar buying 75.3 US cents.
- 10-year Australian Government bonds yielding 1.47% per annum.
That's all folks. See you next week!
