The Santa Rally was well and truly in force this week as the big man prepared his reindeer for Sunday night.
The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) rose 0.79% over the last five trading days to close Friday at 7,501.60 points.
The week saw Houthi rebels in the Red Sea disrupting cargo transport into the Suez Canal, making the world nervous about oil prices and supply chains.
But the buoyant mood from the US Federal Reserve's recent dovish comments dominated, as markets the world over looked forward to potential interest rate cuts in 2024.
Let's see how the different ASX sectors performed:
Utilities rules ASX sectors
Eight of the 11 ASX sectors finished the week in the green, which would have brought smiles to investor faces as they head into the holiday period.
Utilities came out on top, with a 1.86% gain, with communications not far behind on 1.53%.
The loser of the week were technology shares, which collectively lost 0.6%.
Here's the full league table, according to CommSec:
Sector | 5-day change to close of Friday |
Utilities | +1.86% |
Communication services | +1.53% |
Industrials | +1.22% |
Healthcare | +1.08% |
Materials | +1.01% |
Energy | +0.87% |
Consumer discretionary | +0.78% |
Financials | +0.76% |
Consumer staples | (0.04%) |
Real estate | (0.48%) |
Information technology | (0.60%) |