Australian shares finish week up 0.6pct

The local share market has given back most of Thursday's gains, but still put in a respectable showing for the week.

The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index closed on Friday down 52.9 points, or 0.72 per cent, to 7301.5, having risen 70.2 points, or 0.96 per cent the day before. 

For the week the index finished up 42 points, 0.58 per cent, its fifth week of gains out of the past six weeks.

The broader All Ordinaries closed down 50.5 points, or 0.67 per cent, to 7503.5.

"Pretty bleak day today on the ASX," said CMC Markets APAC and Canada analyst Azeem Sheriff. "There's no real news as to why ... I reckon there was a bit of profit-taking today."

Traders may have been taking something off the table ahead of the release of the monthly non-farm payroll figures in the United States, Mr Sheriff said. 

The closely watched jobs report for November is set to be disclosed just after midnight, Sydney time, with economists expecting the US labour market to have cooled from the 261,000 new jobs created in October.

"We may see a bit of a reaction, especially if it doesn't get to 200,000," Mr Sheriff said. "I think that's a big difference (over October's numbers). 

"If it goes below that number, we could see a very volatile reaction and negative reaction from equity markets."

The interest-rate-sensitive real estate sector was the biggest loser on Friday, falling 2.7 per cent as Goodman Group dropped 4.1 per cent and Charter Hall fell 5.1 per cent.

The energy sector was close behind, dropping 2.5 per cent as Santos lost its appeal of a court ruling that overturned approval of its $4.7 billion Barossa gas project off the coast of NT. 

Santos fell 3.8 per cent to $7.15, Woodside dropped 2.6 per cent to $35.71 and Beach Energy dipped 2.4 per cent to $1.80 as it raised its bid for Warrego Energy.

Warrego, a Perth Basin gas explorer now the subject of bids from three parties including Gina Rinehart's Hancock Energy, was up 8.7 per cent to a three-year high of 28.25c.

In the heavyweight mining sector, losses for the iron ore giants were outweighing gains for goldminers as the price of the precious metal hovered just below $US1,800 an ounce.

BHP dropped 1.6 per cent to $45.76, Fortescue Metals dipped 1.4 per cent to $19.68 and Rio Tinto retreated 1.1 per cent to $111.94.

Newcrest gained 2.1 per cent to a six-month high of $21.09, Northern Star rose 1.5 per cent to a seven-month high of $11.08 and Evolution climbed 0.7 per cent to a five-month high of $2.88.

All the big banks were lower, with CBA down 1.4 per cent to $106.95, ANZ down 1.2 per cent to $24.65, Westpac dipping 0.7 per cent to $23.76 and NAB dropping 1.0 per cent to $31.38.

In tech, Bigtincan Holdings soared 11.0 per cent to 75.5c after the AI-powered sales platform received a tentative takeover proposal of 80c per share from SQN Investors. 

Meanwhile, the Australian dollar was buying 68.24 US cents, from 68.25 US cents at Thursday's ASX close.

After the market closed, the S&P Dow Jones Indices announced that Pilbara Minerals would replace Lendlease as part of the ASX20 on December 19, and Monadelphous Group would replace St Barbara in the ASX200.

Looking forward, the Reserve Bank of Australia will hold its final meeting of the year on Tuesday. 

In a view shared by many economists, Mr Sheriff expects the board to hike interest rates another 25 basis points, to 3.15 per cent.

ON THE ASX:

* The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index on Friday dropped 52.9 points, or 0.72 per cent, at 7301.5.

* The broader All Ordinaries fell 50.5 points, or 0.67 per cent, to 7503.5.

CURRENCY SNAPSHOT:

One Australian dollar buys:

* 68.24 US cents, from 68.25 US cents at Thursday's close

* 92.20 Japanese yen, from 93.08 Japanese yen

* 64.80 Euro cents, from 65.33 Euro cents

* 55.77 British pence, from 56.41 British pence

* 106.76 NZ cents, from 107.78 NZ cents.