Updates to market close

By Nikita Maria Jino

Dec 27 (Reuters) - Australian equities clocked modest gains in a holiday-thinned trading session on Friday, led by discretionary consumer and banking firms, and marked their best week in more than four months.

The S&P/ASX 200 index .AXJO rose 0.5% to end at 8,261.8 points, its highest closing level since Dec. 18. It advanced 2.4% this week, the most since the week ended Aug. 16.

Over the past three holiday-thinned sessions, the benchmark has recovered some 200 points after plunging 460 points from its all-time high of 8,514.50 scaled early this month.

While the gains have been broad-based this week, they were largely due to "extraordinarily light volumes", said Damian Rooney, director of equity sales at Argonaut.

"With the market shut for Christmas and Boxing Day and a half day on Christmas Eve, trading is very muted."

Overall, around 283.5 million shares changed hands on Friday, less than half of the 30-day daily average of 604.5 million shares, as per LSEG data.

Discretionary consumer firms .AXDJ rose around 1%, among the biggest gainers of the day. Wesfarmers WES.AX added 1.4%, while electronics retailer JB Hi-Fi JBH.AX advanced 0.7%.

Banks .AXFJ, among the best performers this year despite stretched valuations, advanced 0.6%, with all the "Big Four" banks inching higher.

Healthcare stocks .AXHJ rose 0.6% as the Aussie dollar wobbled towards a two-year low. Biotech giant CSL CSL.AX gained nearly 0.6%. AUD/

Miners .AXMM edged higher, but were set to end 18% lower for 2024, snapping an eight-year winning streak.

The resources sector's weak showing, due to subdued demand from China, has meant the S&P/ASX 200's roughly 8% gain this year has trailed the double-digit increases in the U.S., Japan and Hong Kong, said Rooney.

In New Zealand, the S&P/NZX 50 index .NZ50 ended 1% higher at 13,205.1 points, its highest close since Nov. 27. The index has gained 2.3% this week, its best since late November.

(Reporting by Nikita Maria Jino in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'Souza)

((Nikita.Jino@thomsonreuters.com;))

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