Australian shares cap off another week of gains

The Australian share market closed in the green to notch up its third-straight week of gains amid rising global confidence of interest rate cuts this year.

The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index on Friday closed up 27.4 points, or 0.35 per cent, to 7,749.0, while the broader All Ordinaries rose 28.5 points, or 0.36 per cent, to 8,022.7.

The ASX200 finished the week 1.6 per cent higher, following last week's gain of 0.7 per cent, as stocks across the 11 sectors rebounded from Thursday's sell-off.

Tuesday's interest rate pause by the Reserve Bank buoyed hopes further hikes were a less likely possibility despite inflation proving to be stickier than forecast.

AMP chief economist Shane Oliver said the most likely scenario was the RBA leaving rates on hold until late this year before making cuts in November or December.

But he said there was still a risk of a near-term hike.  

"The bad news is that the RBA still considers the jobs market as too tight, inflation is falling more slowly than expected, it revised up its inflation forecasts for this year and it actually considered hiking again," he said.

Still, rate cuts in Switzerland and Sweden and a forecast for the UK to follow suit in June meant the global trend for rates was down, Dr Oliver said.

On Friday the Australian energy sector recorded a 1.9 per cent rise following the future gas strategy announced by the federal government on Thursday, which sets out to move the country towards net zero emissions by expanding the country's reliance on gas.

Woodside gained 1.9 per cent and Santos rose 2.1 per cent, with Ampol and Viva Energy also in the green off the back of the controversial strategy, which has been derided by environmental critics as propping up the fossil fuel industry.

Uranium miner Deep Yellow, operating across Australia and Namibia, rose 3.7 per cent to $1.67.

The big four banks recorded gains, with NAB up 0.9 per cent to $33.81, ANZ rising 1.0 per cent to $29.09, Westpac lifting 1.3 per cent and Commonwealth Bank climbing 0.5 per cent to $117.54.

CBA's gains came after the federal court ruled in its favour in a long-running shareholder class action alleging the bank had breached its disclosure obligations.

Life360 dropped 2.5 per cent to $15.11 after the family tracking tech company announced it had suffered a net loss of $9.8 million in the March quarter.

But chief executive Chris Hull said the results showed continued momentum, with paying subscribers nearly doubling to 96,000 and revenue growing 15 per cent year-on-year.

REA Group finished up 1.4 per cent to $187.32, a day after the realestate.com.au owner announced March quarter operating earnings of $177 million, up 30 per cent from a year ago.

In the heavyweight mining sector, BHP dropped 0.35 per cent, Fortescue fell 0.76 per cent and Rio Tinto slipped 0.16 per cent.

The Australian dollar was buying 66.12 US cents, from 65.68 US cents at Thursday's ASX close.

ON THE ASX:

* The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index on Friday closed up 27.4 points, or 0.35 per cent, to 7,749.0

* The broader All Ordinaries rose 28.5 points, or 0.36 per cent, to 8,022.7.

CURRENCY SNAPSHOT:

One Australian dollar buys:

* 66.12 US cents, from 65.68 US cents at Thursday's ASX close

* 102.85 Japanese yen, from 102.30 Japanese yen

* 61.34 Euro cents, from 61.15 Euro cents

* 52.73 British pence, from 52.62 pence

* 109.69 NZ cents, from 109.55 NZ cents.