The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) has brought ASX investors back to earth this Friday with a dastardly finish to the week's trading.
After rising over Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday's trading, the ASX 200 gave back most of those gains today with a nasty fall of 0.7% to 7,403.6 points. It could have been worse, though, with the index falling more than 1% at one point today.
It was always going to be a hard ask for the ASX to pull off a gain today, considering what we saw on the US markets last night.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average Index (DJX: .DJI) tanked by a depressing 0.67%. The Nasdaq Composite Index (NASDAQ: .IXIC) was just behind the Dow, falling by 0.55%.
But let's now grit our teeth and see where the pain was stemming from on the local markets with a look at the different ASX sectors.
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Winners and losers
It will probably come as no surprise to hear that most ASX sectors had a fairly rough time of it today. In fact, there was only one sector that turned out a gain (with another flat).
The worst corner of the market this Friday was occupied by ASX gold shares. The All Ordinaries Gold Index (ASX: XGD) had a clanger and fell by a chunky 2.6%
That was as bad as it got, with no other sectors falling by more than 2%.
Next up, was the real estate investment trust (REIT) space. The S&P/SX 200 A-REIT Index (ASX: XPJ) got close, with a steep drop of 1.95%.
Then we have ASX mining shares, with the S&P/ASX 200 Materials Index (ASX: XMJ) tanking by 1.19%
The remaining ASX sectors all experienced drops below 1%.
Most significant were ASX consumer discretionary shares, with the S&P/ASX 200 Consumer Discretionary Index (ASX: XDJ) retreating 0.89%.
Other notable moves down were ASX communications shares and healthcare shares. The S&P/ASX 200 Communications Services Index (ASX: XTJ) dropped 0.53%, while the S&P/ASX 200 Healthcare Index (ASX: XHJ) went backwards by 0.49%.
The best place to be this Friday was in the S&P/ASX 200 Utilities Index (ASX: XUJ), which pulled off a 0.12% rise. ASX energy shares were also spared the worst of it, with the S&P/ASX 200 Energy Index (ASX: XEJ) staying flat.
Top 10 ASX 200 shares countdown
Ending its week on a high was our best-performing share of the day in healthcare stock Pro Medicus Ltd (ASX: PME). Pro Medicus shares didn't have an eye-watering gain, but its rise of 1.97% to $69.28 a share still topped the index this Friday.
Investors were possibly buoyed by a new broker buy recommendation out this week.
Here are the other winning shares from today's session:
| ASX-listed company | Share price | Price change |
| Pro Medicus Limited (ASX: PME) | $69.28 | 1.97% |
| Insignia Financial Group Ltd (ASX: IFL) | $2.98 | 1.71% |
| BlueScope Steel Ltd (ASX: BSL) | $21.48 | 1.56% |
| Altium Limited (ASX: ALU) | $38.32 | 1.35% |
| Brickworks Limited (ASX: BKW) | $26.00 | 1.29% |
| Lifestyle Communities Ltd (ASX: LIC) | $17.50 | 1.16% |
| Amcor plc (ASX: AMC) | $15.26 | 1.13% |
| Breville Group Ltd (ASX: BRG) |
$22.72 | 1.11% |
| Ansell Limited (ASX: ANN) | $24.16 | 1.05% |
| Lottery Corporation Ltd (ASX: TLC) | $5.17 | 0.98% |
Our top 10 shares countdown is a recurring end-of-day summary to let you know which companies were making big moves on the day. Check in at Fool.com.au after the weekday market closes to see which stocks make the countdown.
