By Oliver Gray
Investing.com - The S&P/ASX 200 finished Friday’s session higher, gaining 27.3 points or 0.36% to 7538.4, extending record highs touched in the previous session and posting gains of 1.44% for the week as stronger than expected local data and a surge in buy-now-pay-later stocks boosted risk appetite.
In coronavirus news, New South Wales reported a record 291 cases today as Premier Gladys Berejiklian warned of even higher case numbers over the next few days. Victoria reported 4 fresh cases as the state entered its sixth lockdown, while Queensland recorded 10 cases, all linked to the current Indooroopilly school cluster.
Among stocks, News Corp (ASX:NWS) surged 7.57% after reporting earnings, with Chief Executive Robert Thomson noted that it was the most profitable year since 2013, buoyed by strong growth in digital subscriptions. Buy-now-pay-later stocks also continued to surge, following Square (NYSE:SQ) CEO Jack Dorsey’s move to acquire Afterpay earlier this week in an A$39 billion takeover bid. Afterpay Touch Group Ltd (ASX:APT) and Zip Co Ltd (ASX:Z1P) added 5.37%, 1.59% respectively.
On the policy front, Reserve Bank of Australia Governor Phillip Lowe noted in a scheduled policy statement today that while the impact of protracted lockdowns in Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland would affect the economy over the coming quarter, it was unlikely that it would trigger another recession. Earlier this week, the central bank maintained the current cash rate at 0.1% and held firm on the current taper timeline.