And that's a wrap, thank you for your company.

Don't forget to tune in tonight's Close of Business with Rachel Pupazzoni on the ABC News at 9:30pm AEST tonight or any time on ABC iview.

The ASX 200 has ended the week on a positive note.

The benchmark index closed up 1.3 per cent, with miners and energy companies leading the gains.

All sectors were higher.

Here are the top and bottom movers at the close.

Qantas is seeking an extension for the alliance with China Eastern, which allows the two companies to coordinate passengers and cargo movement between Australia and China.

China was Australia's biggest tourism market before the COVID-19 outbreak and the move to block the deal would end a partnership that Qantas has relied on for over 10 years.

"We will review the ACCC's draft decision in detail and work to address their concerns ahead of a final determination," Qantas told Reuters in an emailed statement.

Australia will have a new RBA governor on Monday. Michele Bullock is the next central bank boss replacing Philip Lowe.

Speaking to business presenter Rachel Pupazzoni about Dr Lowe's performance, former RBA economist and monetary policy lecturer at Monash University Zac Gross says Dr Lowe will be primarily remembered as a "crisis fighter" and he's done a good job at holding the economy together during the pandemic.

However, Mr Gross says the RBA will be reflecting upon Dr Lowe's forward guidance on rates for a long time.

Mr Gross also thinks that the priority for the incoming governor is to make sure inflation gets back to the target band, which is 2-3 per cent.

You can watch the full interview on Close of Business on the ABC News Channel at 9:30pm AEST tonight or any time on iview.

Here is a note from RBC Capital Markets analyst Owen Birrell on today's ACCC announcement about the alliance between Qantas and China Eastern.

Qantas' "partnership" with China Eastern was originally authorised in 2015 (with conditions), during a period of substantial growth in inbound Australia-China seat capacity. It was re-authorised in 2021 without conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic. In Mar-23, the ACCC granted interim authorisation to enable Qantas and China Eastern to continue to coordinate their operations while the ACCC assesses their substantive application for re-authorisation. 

An "Extended Joint Coordination Agreement" is essentially a ‘revenue sharing’ partnership at delivers better economic outcomes than the traditional ‘code sharing’ alliances, as it enables carriers to circumvent certain competition laws through coordination of aircraft and schedules, delivering improved pricing outcomes (vs. rivals). The ACCC will generally authorise these agreements only if the public benefits from the coordination outweigh the harm to competition. 

The ACCC considers that demand for air travel between Australia and China is likely to keep growing but is unconvinced that the coordination of services between Qantas and China Eastern will lead to additional services. In the current environment of limited global capacity and heightened ticket pricing, we note the rising risk that a similar argument could be made by the ACCC in reference to Qantas' other "partnership-style" arrangements as they come due, namely with Emirates (due 2026) and American Airlines (due 2026). 

Japan's Nikkei share average rose to its highest in more than two months on Friday, tracking overnight gains on Wall Street, with technology stocks leading the way after the strong market debut of SoftBank Group's Arm Holdings.

The Nikkei was up 1.3 per cent to 33,613 by the midday break, its highest since July 3, and is set to rise 3 per cent for the week.

The broader Topix rose 1.3 per cent to 2,436 and is on course to post a 3.3 per cent weekly gain.

"First of all, the market rose because Wall Street was strong," said Shoichi Arisawa, general manager of the investment research department at IwaiCosmo Securities.

"And the strong debut of Arm has raised investor sentiment and prompted them to buy chip-related shares."

US stocks ended sharply higher overnight as robust economic data failed to budge expectations that the Federal Reserve will leave its key interest rate unchanged next week.

Adding to positive sentiment, SoftBank Group's Arm was valued at nearly $US60 billion in a strong Nasdaq debut overnight, with the chip designer's shares soaring nearly 25 per cent in their first day of trading.

Shares in SoftBank Group rose as much as 5 per cent earlier in the session but trimmed most of their gains to end the morning session up 1.7 per cent.

Australian shares jumped on Friday in broad-based buying, with mining stocks leading the gains, as investors looked ahead to August economic data from China, the country's biggest trading partner.

The ASX 200 index climbed 1.8 per cent to 7,315 points by 12:26pm AEST and looked set to post its sharpest daily rise since mid July, if gains held. 

The benchmark has risen 1.6 per cent so far in the week, heading for its best week in nearly two months.

Investors worldwide were awaiting a slew of data from China, which has been struggling to prop up its economy after a brief post-COVID recovery.

Back home, data released on Thursday showed that Australian jobs surged in August. 

However, it did not dent hopes for the country's central bank to stand pat on interest rates next month.

Heavyweight miners led the gains, rising 3.3 per cent in their biggest intraday percentage climb since July 25 on strong metal prices.

Mining giants BHP and Rio Tinto climbed 3.8 per cent each, while Fortescue was up 4.4 per cent.

Financials rose 1.4 per cent, with the "big four" banks up between 1 per cent and 1.6 per cent.

Energy stocks advanced 2.1 per cent as oil prices rose to their highest level in 2023. Sector major Woodside Energy was up 1.9 per cent.

Multimillionaire property developer and founder and CEO of Gurner Group, Tim Gurner, has responded to widespread criticism of comments he made at a media event in Sydney, in which he called workers "arrogant" and decreasingly productive.

Speaking at the Australian Financial Review Property Summit on Tuesday, Mr Gurner told the audience he wanted to see Australia's unemployment rate "jump 40 to 50 per cent" in order to cause "pain in the economy" and "remind people they work for the employer, not the other way around".

Read more from Tom Williams.

The ACCC has issued a draft determination proposing to deny authorisation for Qantas and China Eastern Airlines and their related entities (including Jetstar) to continue coordinating operations between Australia and mainland China. 

Qantas and China Eastern are seeking authorisation for an Extended Joint Coordination Agreement that enables them to coordinate passenger and cargo transport operations between Australia and China until the end of March 2024. 

An agreement for coordination between two key competitors may breach competition laws. The ACCC can only authorise these agreements if the public benefits from the coordination outweigh the harm to competition.

“At this stage we are not satisfied that the likely harm to competition from Qantas and China Eastern’s proposed coordination would be outweighed by any potential benefits,” ACCC Commissioner Anna Brakey said.