Shares bounce after Thursday’s retreat

AUSTRALIAN shares rose on Friday as the risk appetite in global markets improved, but the local bourse still lost 1.6 per cent over the week.

The ASX 200 share index closed up 37 points or 0.5 per cent at 7406.6 points.

The benchmark index closed down for the week after a 1.9 per cent tumble on Thursday when $46bn was wiped from the value of the Australian sharemarket. The ASX 200 is still up 12.4 per cent since the start of January.

“Markets remain in a reasonably tense state at the moment, though there’s not yet signs of outright panic,” IG market analyst, Kyle Rodda said.

Around the region, Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 1.3 per cent and China’s Shanghai Composite closed up 0.3 per cent.

The big banks all rebounded. Commowealth Bank rose 0.5 per cent to $101.09, while NAB edged up 0.2 per cent to $28.45, ANZ gained 0.3 per cent to $27.59 and Westpac lifted 0.2 per cent to $25.65.

Miners also recovered. BHP was up 0.8 per cent to $41.25 while Rio Tinto grew 0.7 per cent to $106.22.