Market Wrap / waiting for Trump

The S&P/ASX200 alternated between positive and negative territories this Friday. It ended the session in the red, down 0.20% at 8310.40 points.

Gains from the miners were not enough to offset losses from the banks and telcos.

Following a negative session on Wall Street, all local major banks lost grounds, with CBA down 1.2%.

On the M&A front, Insignia Financial received yet another takeover bid from CC Capital Partners. The offier is for $4.60 a share, a 7% premium to CC Capital's initial offer which had been matched by Bain Capital. The stock soared 6.5%. 

The miners received a push from China. The Sino economy ended the year on a better footing than expected buoyed by the government's stimulus push. The economy grew by 5% for the full year 2024, meeting the government's growth target and beating analysts expectation of 4.9% growth. 

BHP sprung back into positive territory on that note, while the broad materials space ended 0.2% higher. Lynas shares fell 0.8% after a broker update.

Elsewhere, mining giants Rio Tinto and Glencore are reportedly in early-stage talks of a potential merger. If successful, it would be the industry's largest deal and create a combined company with a market value of around $158 billion. Still, Rio’s stock ended the day flat.

Going into next week, markets will look at the Trump administration's first days in office, while locally we’ll get building activity and PMI data.