The local share market finished slightly higher after the Reserve Bank kept most of its economic forecasts unchanged, but midweek losses meant the bourse snapped its three-week winning streak.
The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index on Friday finished up 13.6 points, or 0.19 per cent, to 7,325.3, while the All Ordinaries gained 13.6 points, or 0.18 per cent, to 7,535.9.
For the week the ASX finished down 78 points, 1.06 per cent lower from last Friday's close, mostly due to a big sell-off on Wednesday following Fitch Ratings' downgrade of the US credit rating.
Attention domestically on Friday was focused on the RBA's quarterly Statement on Monetary Policy, a 78-page report that traders perused to glean hints about the future path of interest rate hikes.
As it turned out the report made little changes to most key economic forecasts, although it downwardly revised its near-term predictions for inflation and gross domestic product growth.
"Against the backdrop of a similar global central banking narrative, today’s SOMP will do little to shift expectations that this policy cycle is drawing to an end, if not already there," said RBC Capital Markets chief economist Su-Lin Ong.
Barclays economists Rahul Bajoria and Shreya Sodhani said after reviewing the document they continued to expect the RBA would hike rates once more, "though we acknowledge that data is paramount and may persuade the bank to stay on hold".
Internationally, traders were awaiting key US non-farm payrolls for July, one of several key data points the Federal Reserve will likely use in deciding whether to raise interest rates next month.
The ASX's 11 sectors were finished mixed on Friday, with seven up and five down.
Health care was the biggest loser, falling 1.2 per cent amid sharp losses for biotech Mesoblast and medical device maker ResMed.
Mesoblast cratered 56.9 per cent to a decade-low of 47c after the company - whose shares traded at over $5 in 2020 - received another setback from the US regulators over its flagship product.
Before approving the stem-cell based treatment for graft-versus-host disease - a potentially fatal complication from bone marrow transplants - the Food and Drug Administration is requiring Mesoblast to conduct another study.
"We remain steadfast in making remestemcel-L available to both children and adults suffering from this devastating disease, and have received substantial clarity in how to bring this much-needed product to these patients," CEO Silviu Itescu said.
ResMed meanwhile dropped 9.3 per cent to $30.70 after the sleep apnoea company announced fourth-quarter earnings that missed consensus estimates.
Its revenue was up 23 per cent to $US1.1 billion (A$1.67 billion), but its gross profit margin dropped from 57.1 per cent to 55 per cent due to unfavourable product mix and higher component and manufacturing costs.
In the heavyweight banking sector, ANZ rose 0.8 per cent to $25.45 and Suncorp gained 0.6 per cent to $14.13 after ANZ said it would appeal the Australian Consumer and Commission Commission blocking its $4.9 billion acquisition of Suncorp's banking arm.
Westpac added 0.4 per cent to $21.98 and NAB edged 0.1 per cent higher at $27.95, while CBA dropped 0.6 per cent to $101.87.
Westpac was up 0.6 per cent, ANZ had added 0.4 per cent but CBA was down 0.3 per cent.
Afterpay owner Block finished 5.8 per cent lower to a one-month low of $109.51 despite beating earnings estimates.
As for the mining giants, BHP rose 1.1 per cent to $45.80, Fortescue added 0.6 per cent to $21.39 and Rio Tinto gained 0.8 per cent to $114.83.
In the consumer discretionary sector, City Chic Collective soared 28.1 per cent to a six-month high of 61.5c after the plus-sized woman's retailer said it had agreed to sell its United Kingdom brand, Evans, to a British retailer for £8 million ($15.5 million).
E&P Capital analyst Olivier Coulon said Evans had deeply unprofitable and the divestment would help CCX's strong Australian business, which had been hindered by poor international expansion efforts.
In currency, the Australian dollar had lost ground against its US counterpart for a third straight week, although it was up slightly from Thursday's two-month low.
The Aussie was buying 65.65 US cents, from 65.29 US cents at Thursday's ASX close.
ON THE ASX:
* The S&P/ASX200 index finished Friday up 13.6 points, or 0.19 per cent, at 7,325.3.
* The All Ordinaries gained 13.6 points, or 0.18 per cent, to 7,535.9
CURRENCY SNAPSHOT:
One Australian dollar buys:
* 65.65 US cents, from 65.29 US cents at Thursday's ASX close
* 93.65 Japanese yen, from 93.81 Japanese yen
* 59.94 Euro cents, from 59.77 Euro cents
* 51.67 British pence, from 51.45 pence
* 107.78 NZ cents, from 107.58 NZ cents.
