The benchmark ASX200 index finished 0.5 per cent higher on Friday and 2.4 per cent for the week to close at 5699.2, while the broader All Ordinaries rose 0.5 per cent higher on the day and 2.2 per cent for the week to 5681.7.

For the month, the ASX200 lifted 4.4 per cent, led by health stocks, with the sub-index rallying 9.6 per cent. But most other sectors performed well too, apart from materials, which shed 1.1 per cent, and energy, up just 0.25 per cent, due to sagging commodity prices..

Paul Kasian, Equity Trustees' head of asset management, described the market as "relaxed" as it prepared for reporting season.

"The worst of it in terms of pre-reporting is over. There haven't been too many downgrades," he said.

But while the market had a good month, it was coming off a "shocking" June quarter, said Mr Kasian.

"It's regaining what it went through. I think the market can move higher from here because we're moving away from the fear trade, from the Greek exit, back to fundamentals."

However, Mr Kasian urged buyers to be selective.

"The banks should be OK. The yield trade is still on at the moment. I think it's too easy to rotate into cyclicals," he said. "The Australian dollar is showing signs of wobbling so you want to have some US dollar exposure in your portfolio - offshore earnings.

"A bit of yield, a bit of offshore earnings and that should look after you. Just stay away from those domestic cyclicals and resources. It's too speculative."

Sheridan Hure, senior portfolio manager with Aurora Funds Management, said the Australian market was "a little bit in limbo".

"In the lead-up to reporting season, there were profit warnings than there were raisings of guidance," she said. "It just feels like things are on hold until we get into the thick of reporting season."

Ms Hure warned that the market was still possibly overvalued. "We did a pullback in May/June but valuations are still relatively high," she said.

"We haven't forecast a lot of earnings surprises either positive or negative. We think companies have tried to give pretty good clarity at this point."



CSL looks set to win the race to the first $100 stock in recent years, surging nearly 3 per cent on Friday on news it has moved closer to acquiring Novartis' influenza business as part of a deal that will create the world's second-biggest flu vaccine company.

CSL closed 2.7 per cent higher on the day and 5.6 per cent higher for the week to close at $98.96, its first close above $98. During Friday's session it hit a high of $99.33. The sharemarket's eighth-largest stock had a bumper month, soaring 14.4 per cent in July, taking its market cap to $46 billion.

ResMed shares surged after strong sales growth of newly launched sleep therapy products in the final quarter, especially in the Americas, have boosted the firm's full-year net profit by 2 per cent to $US352.9 million.

Investors, buoyed by the strong take-up of ResMed's latest generation ventilation machines that were launched in late 2014, pushed the stock 6.4 per cent higher on the day - a weekly gain of 4.1 per cent - to $8.00.

Among miners, BHP was down 0.2 per cent for the day but up 4.7 per cent for the week to close at $26.45. Competitor Rio Tinto dropped 0.3 Per cent on Friday but finished 3.2 per cent higher for the week to close at $52.86.

All the banks finished higher for the day and the week. ANZ was up 0.6 per cent for the day and 2 per cent for the week to close at $32.68, Commonwealth Bank lifted 0.5 per cent for the day and 2 per cent for the week to $87.56, National Australia Bank climbed 0.6 per cent for the day and 2.5 per cent for the week to $34.77 and Westpac firmed 0.3 per cent for the day and 1.8 per cent for the week to $34.86.

Fellow blue-chip stock Telstra was up 0.6 per cent on the day and 2 per cent for the week to finish at $6.49.

Origin Energy fell 0.1 per cent on the day but gained 3 per cent for the week to close at $11.34 after lifting quarterly production and revenue despite plunging oil prices.

The company's production in the three months to June was up 15 per cent from the preceding three months, due mainly to its Australia Pacific LNG project in Queensland. Revenue was nine per cent higher as increased production helped to offset lower average commodity prices.