Australian Stock Report Market Wrap Up: Aussie market ends tough week on the red

Sydney - 5 February 2016: The Aussie market rounded out a tough week with another losing session today, although a late session rally limited the damage.

“Strength in energy, mining and I.T stocks wasn't enough to overcome the drag caused by weakness in financials, consumer discretionary, healthcare and utilities plays,” says Chris Conway, Head of Research at Australian Stock Report.

He adds, Oil Search (OSH) was the best performer among the oil companies, gaining 3%. Elsewhere, Woodside (WPL) added 0.4% while Santos (STO) put on 2.2%.

Financials underperformed, dragged down by weakness in the big four with National Australia Bank (NAB) the worst of the lot, down 1.5%.

The big miners fared well; BHP Billiton (BHP) added 4.9%, rival Rio Tinto (RIO) was up 3.2% while Fortescue Metals (FMG) jumped 4.7%.

Among the big losers in the ASX was Whitehaven Coal (WHC), dropping 6.7% despite reporting a return to the black for the half year to December and flagging it expects coal prices to start recovering next year.

On the day the ASX 200 lost four points (<0.1%) to settle at 4976.