Australian stocks closed the session near where they started and ended the week flat.

Today’s scoreboard:

• ASX 200: 5,743.90 -1.58 -0.03%
• All Ordinaries: 5,803.40 +1.74 +0.03%
• AUD/USD: 0.7903 -0.0001 -0.01%

The local market ended the week almost where it started.

Today, the miners added weight and the banks were mixed.

Westpac was down 1% to $32.11 but the Commonwealth added 0.2% to close at $77.72.

Fortescue was up 0.8% to $6.00 and Rio Tinto 0.5% to $67.33.

Health insurer Medibank Private was up 6.7% to $2.87 after posting a 7.6% rise in profit to $449.5 million

Top stories:

1. An oddity in Australia’s economy. And it hat could keep interest rates on hold for some time yet

2. A $10.8 million goodbye for Australia Post CEO Ahmed Fahour. Chairman John Stanhope said: “These payments reflect the sustained success of the transformation that Mr Fahour has led at Australia Post over many years … ”

3. Take care with care expenses claims in your tax return. The ATO is taking a closer look at car expense deductions this year.

4. A retailer with growth. Super Retail, the owner of Supercheap Auto, Rebel and BCF, posted a 62.1% rise in full year profit to $101.8. Its shares close at $8.40, up 7.2%.

5. A direct flight from Sydney to London. Qantas will challenge Boeing and Airbus to deliver an aircraft capable of flying regular direct services.

6. The Qantas turnaround is complete. Qantas today posted its second-highest underlying profit result in the 97 year history of the national airline. Its shares closed almost 3.8% higher at $6.02.

7. Some progress for Bellamy’s. But the infant formula maker posted a full year loss of $809,000, a long way from the $38.33 million profit of the previous 12 months.

8. Ishigami’s “Cloud Arch”. The cost of Sydney’s crazy, giant ribbon sculpture just exploded to $11.3 million.

9. No French bubbly for the RBA. The central bank workers drink pale ale and cheap sparkling wine.

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