A week's worth of counting failed to solidify a majority government by Friday and throughout the week local shares were buffeted around by global uncertainty and volatile commodity prices.
On Friday, the benchmark S&P;/ASX200 Index rose 0.05 per cent and the broader All Ordinaries Index 0.09 per cent to 5230.5 and 5315.6 points respectively. Investors were fairly apprehensive, waiting for Friday night's United States inflation and employment reading.
For the week, the S&P;/ASX 200 and the All Ords finished down 0.3 per cent and 0.2 per cent respectively.
Global risk sentiment swung between risk-on and risk-off from Monday, the echoes of Brexit nudging investors towards safer asset classes.
The banks had a tough week. The possibility of a Labor government and a resulting inquiry into the major financial institutions weighed on investors' minds. This was compounded by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority signalling lenders will need to hold additional capital in the coming months, despite already being some of the most well-capitalised banks in the world.
Commonwealth Bank of Australia finished the week down 1.9 per cent to $72.41, while Westpac Banking Corporation fell 2.5 per cent to $28.27. ANZ Banking Group slipped 3.5 per cent to $23.12, and National Australia Bank was down 3.3 per cent to $24.43.
The Reserve Bank of Australia kept rates on hold on Tuesday, largely in line with economists' expectations, though most have signalled the bank will continue with its easing bias in August.
The 10-year Australian bond yield plunged to a record low of 1.841 per cent on Wednesday, following the 10-year United States Treasury's slide to a record 1.38 per cent the day before.
Safe haven assets are still flavour of the day and by Thursday, gold had reached a two-year high. On Friday afternoon the precious metal was fetching $US1358 an ounce.
"It was no surprise to see investors on the sidelines with so much uncertainty and much to digest with this week's macro-economic events," said Tristan K'Nell, market analyst at Altair Asset Management.
"It was pleasing to see the market resilient and shrugging off the volatility overnight in crude oil and iron ore, with the energy and resource sector holding up quite well despite a weak lead from commodity markets."
Oil prices have had a topsy-turvy week, flowing through to volatile movements in the energy and materials sectors. Overnight on Thursday, the Energy Information Administration revealed crude oil inventories dropped by 2.2 million barrels, much less than the 6.7 million barrels seen in another reading the day before. Iron ore dropped 1.1 per cent overnight.
Resources giant BHP Billiton was down 0.2 per cent for the week to $19.05, while main rival Rio Tinto lifted 4.8 per cent to $48.80. Iron ore miner Fortescue Metals Group jumped 6.3 per cent to $3.86.