The first day of spring brought a bit of sunshine to the ASX, capping a hectic week which included a fresh North Korean missile test and the final days of the August reporting season.

The S&P/ASX 200 index swung from gains to losses and back again on Friday, ultimately ending the session 10 points higher at 5725, with miners once again lifting and after buying in three of the four major banks. 

Friday's limited gains trimmed the week's losses to 19 points, or 0.3 per cent, landing the benchmark index firmly back within its multi-month range of 5700-800 points Friday's close. Commonwealth Bank in particular, weighed heavily over the week after the prudential regulator compounded the bank's woes by announcing an independent inquiry into the lender's culture. CBA ended the week off another 2.9 per cent.

In a week marked by big moves for gasoline after Hurricane Harvey devastated Texas, investors also sent the euro to two-and-a-half year highs after the commentary, or lack of it, that emerged from last weekend's annual meeting of the world's central bankers in Jackson Hole.

Early Tuesday morning, investors in Australia and around the globe were blind-sided by renewed tensions on the Korean peninsular after North Korea fired a missile over Japan for the first time since 2009.

The move sent equity markets around our region into a tailspin for a day, as investors fretted about potential repercussions and bought up safehavens such as gold and, ironically, the Japanese yen.

However, a surprisingly mellow reaction from US President Donald Trump and better data out of the US soon saw markets back on track and for the rest of the week Aussie investors concentrated on the final days of profit reporting season.

Telstra shares slid 6.3 per cent on Wednesday after the stock traded without the right to its 15.5¢ per share final dividend and investors grappled with the news that NBN had rejected a proposal to monetise the payments the builder of the National Broadband Network is making to the telco. Telstra dropped 6.4 per cent over the five sessions.

The last few earnings reports trickled in, with Harvey Norman taking a hit on Thursday after the retailer cut its final dividend by 5¢ to 12¢ a share to preserve cash, despite lifting its bottom-line net profit by 29 per cent to a record $448.9 million after riding the tailwinds of the housing and property booms.

"Earnings growth outside of the volatile resource sector looks to have been a reasonable 5-6 per cent last year but it's the outlook that has been a bit disappointing with earnings growth looking to be lower this year," Alphinity Investment Management portfolio manager Johan Carlberg said.

"The August reporting season confirmed that Australia is struggling to keep pace with international markets," Mr Carlberg added.

Blackmores was an earnings standout, rising 25 per cent over the week, after reporting earnings. Ramsay Health dropped 8.7 per cent over the week and Boral fell 5.7 following their earnings updates.

Northern Hemisphere investors are set to return to their desks after the August holidays and one of the first things they will be eyeing is US jobs data due out Friday night, Australian time.