The Australian share market finished 0.5% higher on Friday as a week shortened by the Christmas public holidays ended.
The S&P/ASX 200 index ended at 8,261.80 points, up 40.90 points after trading between 8,220.2 and 8,281.4.
The gain brought the advance in the benchmark index this week to 2.41%, leaving it almost 3% off of its 52-week high.
Eight of the 11 sectors finished higher with consumer discretionary leading the way, up 1.08%, followed by financials (0.63%) and healthcare (0.61%), while utilities were the worst performers, down 0.29%.
Among the consumer discretionary stocks finishing in positive territory, Wesfarmers (ASX: WES) added 1.1%, Aristocrat Leisure (ASX: AL) 1.2% and JB Hi Fi (ASX: JBH) 0.7%.
The Big Four Banks lifted the financials index with Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA), National Australia Bank (ASX: NAB), Westpac Banking Corp (ASX: WBC) and ANZ Group (ASX: ANZ) gaining between 0.28% and 0.71%.
At the other end of the scale, the fall in the utilities index was driven by stocks like Origin Energy (ASX: ORG), which fell 0.5%, and APA Group (ASX: APA), down 0.3%.
The Australian dollar continued to weaken against the US dollar, trading at US$0.6209 at 4:50 pm AEDT (GMT 5.55 am), down 0.16% on the day and bringing the five day drop 0.45%.
On the bond markets, at 4:50pm 10-year and 2-year Australian Government yields were 1.46% and 0.21% lower apiece at 4.386% and 3.890% respectively.