Australian shares were likely to trade fairly flat on thin volumes in the coming week as investors wound down ahead of Christmas, dealers said. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 lifted 15.3 points or 0.33 percent across the week to close at 4,650.5.
Trades were likely to thin out as the festive season approached, and with little domestic and offshore news to move sentiment the market was likely to remain fairly flat, said CMC Markets analyst James Foulsham.
"I think it's just going to be winding down to Christmas more than anything and be reasonably quiet and not particularly volatile," Foulsham told AFP.
"There's been a few stories and specific areas of the market that have been moving around, but overall it's been staying relatively flat."
"I can't see it having a massive break out one way or the other." AMP Capital Investors economist Shane Oliver also predicted a quiet week, with shares to remain range-bound. "Our assessment remains that this is just a consolidation of the strong gains seen between March and October, and that the cyclical bull market that began in March has much further to go," said Oliver.
"While my 5,000 target for year-end for the Australian ASX 200 and All Ords is now looking like a bit of a stretch with only two weeks to go, it is still likely that shares will move higher into year end, consistent with the normal Santa Claus rally on the back of New Year optimism."