Source : THE AGE NEWS
By Staff writers
The Australian sharemarket has pushed past the 8000-mark in Tuesday’s session after a late wave of buying wiped out losses on Wall Street overnight, sending the S&P 500 higher for a fifth session – its longest advance since November.
The S&P/ASX 200 rose 64.70 points, or 0.8 per cent, to 8061.80 as of 12.56pm AEST, with all 11 industry sectors advancing, led by real estate investment trusts, miners, energy, tech and financial stocks. The latest uptick comes after the local market capped a three-day winning streak on Monday as investors looked past recent market volatility to wade back into shares. The Australian dollar strengthened to US64.31¢.
“Four more sleeps to go before the Australian federal election, and while the polls and betting agencies suggest Labor will win, those who bought the dip into shares are winning regardless,” Moomoo market strategist Jessica Amir said, adding that from its lows earlier this month, the local sharemarket had gained 8.9 per cent.
The Australian sharemarket opened higher on Tuesday morning.Credit: Louie Douvis
Australia’s mining heavyweights and financial stocks, which together make up more than half of the local sharemarket and thus have an outsized influence on its direction, advanced.
Iron ore giants BHP, Fortescue Metals and Rio Tinto rose 1.1 per cent, 2.9 per cent and 1.3 per cent respectively, amid continuing hopes of a de-escalation in the trade war between the world’s two largest economies. China is Australia’s biggest buyer of the metal.
Embattled miner Mineral Resources rallied 12.5 per cent despite an underwhelming trading update, trimming its losses since the start of the year to 40 per cent. Its board reiterated its commitment to improve corporate governance after the company’s offshore tax scandal, with a new chair to be announced by the end of June.
The big four banks also advanced, though they pared back some of their early gains. Commonwealth Bank, the largest stock on the ASX, was up 0.1 per cent at lunchtime. Westpac rose 0.8 per cent, while National Australia Bank and ANZ Bank rose 0.4 per cent, respectively.
Real estate stocks climbed, with investors piling into the interest-rate sensitive sector before Wednesday’s release of inflation figures, which will be closely watched by the Reserve Bank in its rate decision early next month. Data centre and warehouse owner Goodman Group jumped 1.6 per cent, while shopping centre landlords Scentre and Stockland rose 1.4 per cent and 1.1 per cent, respectively.
Tech stocks were also stronger, sending WiseTech Global up 1.5 per cent, while accounting software maker Xero rose 2 per cent and family member tracking app Life360 climbed 3.9 per cent.
But it was energy stocks that led the market’s gains as oil prices steadied after a recent drop, with signs of strain in the US economy amid the brewing trade war and talks with Iran on its nuclear program in focus. Brent was below $US66 a barrel after a 1.5 per cent decline on Monday, with West Texas Intermediate near $US62.
Australia’s biggest oil and gas producer, Woodside, rose 0.8 per cent after making its final investment decision on a $17.5 billion ($27.4 billion) liquefied natural gas export project in the US, cementing its position as a top supplier of the fuel. The approval clears the way for large-scale construction of the Louisiana LNG export plant, Woodside said.
Smaller rival Santos gained 1.7 per cent, while the nation’s biggest refiner, Ampol, added 0.9 per cent. Coal producers Whitehaven Coal and Yancoal gained 5.2 per cent and 1.1 per cent, respectively.
Endeavour shares rose 1.1 per cent. The retailer and hotel owner, which runs the bottle shop chains Dan Murphy’s and BWS, said this morning that former Virgin chief executive Jayne Hrdlicka will become its new boss from January 1, with executive chairman Ari Mervis continuing in his role until then.
On Wall Street overnight, stocks drifted to a mixed finish on Monday, ahead of potential flashpoints later this week that could bring more sharp swings for financial markets. The S&P 500 inched up by 0.1 per cent to extend its winning streak to a fifth day. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.3 per cent, while the Nasdaq composite slipped 0.1 per cent.
The relative lull in trading offered a respite from the sharp, historic swings that have rocked markets for weeks, as hopes rose and fell that President Donald Trump may back down on his trade war. Many investors believe Trump’s tariffs could cause a recession if left unaltered. Coming into Monday, the S&P 500 had roughly halved its drop that had taken it nearly 20 per cent below its record set earlier this year.
Mixed trading for some influential tech stocks ahead of their earnings reports this week pulled the S&P 500 back and forth between modest gains and losses for much of the session overnight.
Amazon fell 0.7 per cent, Microsoft dipped 0.2 per cent, Meta Platforms added 0.4 per cent, and Apple rose 0.4 per cent. All are set to report their latest result this week, and they’re some of Wall Street’s most influential companies because they’ve grown to become some of the biggest in terms of size, by far. That gives their movements extra weight on the S&P 500 and other indexes.
A fear is that Trump’s on-again-off-again tariffs may be pushing households and businesses to alter their spending and freeze plans for long-term investment because of how quickly conditions can change, seemingly by the hour.
So far, economic reports have mostly shown that the US economy is still growing, though at a slower pace. On Wednesday, economists expect a report to say US economic growth slowed to a 0.8 per cent annual rate in the first quarter of this year, down from a 2.4 per cent pace at the end of last year. They also expect a slowdown in hiring to 125,000 from 228,000 in March.
With AP, AAP, Bloomberg
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