The sharemarket narrowed its weekly gain on Friday, with most sectors trading in the black over the five sessions.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 shed 0.7 per cent to 5751.7 on Friday, taking its weekly gain to 0.4 per cent, while the broader All Ordinaries index rose by a similar proportion.
Providing support to the index were the major energy stocks, after the oil price surged strongly from the start of the week to Thursday before declining after Friday's OPEC meeting. The ASX 200 energy index added 2.1 per cent. Woodside Petroleum added 1.6 per cent over the week, Oil Search rising 1.0 per cent and WorleyParsons soaring 12.2 per cent, after it told investors it was seeking more than $410 billion in contracts from China's Belt and Road spending plan.
While the headline numbers looked positive, the story of the week was the heavy punishment meted out to the listed retailers. Myer and Super Retail Group both plunged by more than 10 per cent after a number of analysts heavily downgraded their forecasts for the sector, while the likes of JB Hi-Fi, Harvey Norman and Super Retail Group all lost ground.
Sigma Healthcare was the week's biggest loser, shedding 32 per cent after telling the market on Tuesday that it was taking legal action against Chemist Warehouse.
With only three trading sessions left in May, it appears almost certain the index will end the month over 3 per cent lower. But the sell-off has been overdone, argued Citi equity strategists Tony Brennan and Mark Tomlins in a note to clients.
Despite a barrage of news this month, including the the federal budget and the pre-end-of-financial-year corporate "confessions season", which Citi thinks has been "quite benign", increased global uncertainty seems to be what has most soured investors' mood.
Domestically though, the analysts argue, things haven't deteriorated in a way that would warrant the sell-off.
"Bank earnings growth may be slower, and resource earnings may have less upside from current estimates, but earnings-per-share growth close to trend in full year 2018 still seems possible, and the valuation of the market doesn't seem that high as to limit further advance," they wrote.
Dropping dramatically on Friday was Ansell, down 6.8 per cent a day after informing the market it had sold its condom division. And outside the ASX 200, Apiam Animal Health shares declined 31.3 per cent on Friday after the company outlined a full-year trading update.
Furniture company Nick Scali told the ASX it wasn't aware of why its shares had taken a sharp fall this week, down 5.1 per cent on Thursday and another 5.9 on Friday.
Stock Watch: Network Ten
Shares in Network Ten fell 2.9 per cent on Friday, taking weekly losses to 19 per cent - a sharp fall that prompted a "please explain" letter from the ASX. In a response to the query lodged on Friday, the embattled network said it wasn't aware of any unannounced information that could have explained the recent drop. It was aware, however, that Lazard Asset Management and its associates have been selling out - Lazard's is no longer a substantial shareholder, as a May 10 notice to the sharemarket revealed. Network Ten is now selling for just 4c a share, from 93c at the start of the year. The sell-off started in earnest last month, when the company revealed a $232 million loss and said its future relies on its major shareholders guaranteeing is debt.
Copper
Copper-supply threats are concerning investors as rising labour tensions at the world's second-largest mine helped push up prices that had been beaten down by demand concerns. The metal was trading at $US5718 a tonne on Friday, near a three-week high it hit during the week, after a union-affiliated group reported that about 2000 striking workers had been laid off at Freeport-McMoRan's Grasberg mine in Indonesia. The Phoenix-based company later confirmed that "a large number" of the 4000 people who have failed to report to work are now "deemed to have resigned".
Australian dollar
The Aussie dollar fell one-quarter of a cent to US74.23??, its lowest in a week, on Friday. The currency has come under pressure following the slide in oil prices, a drop in iron ore as well as weak local data. AxiTrader's Greg McKenna said the Aussie's woes go well beyond the slump in commodity prices and this week's price development may be the start of a deeper unwind in the currency. In particular, soft economic data this week - a deeper than expected fall in construction work done - as well as more indications that consumers are reluctant to spend, are both likely to worry the RBA.
Oil
Oil extended falls on Friday after tumbling in the previous session when OPEC and allied producers extended output cuts, but disappointed investors betting on longer or larger supply curbs. At Thursday's meeting in Vienna, the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and some non-OPEC producers agreed to extend a pledge to cut around 1.8 million barrels per day until the end of the first quarter of 2018.
Telco shares
Shares in Telstra, TPG and Vocus all finished in the red, after the ACCC's decision on the regulation of high-speed internet services supplied by non-NBN fixed line networks increases the possibility of rising competition The competition regulator has finalised a ruling that non-NBN high-speed internet providers will set the prices of their service in line with the NBN.
