Australian shares ended a four-day losing streak on Friday as positive earnings results on Wall Street gave markets a reprieve from this week’s sell-off caused by a hawkish US Federal Reserve.

The S&P/ASX dropped 2.6 per cent to 6988.1 this week, despite rallying 2.2 per cent, or 149.8 points on Friday. All 11 sharemarket sectors posted gains, with the benchmark index reaching an intraday high of 7000, and successfully escaping correction territory.