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Category: Markets / Currency / Oil and Gas / Banking / Telecommunications / Gold

Rising commodity prices help share market hit two-month high

Monday, 7 Mar 2016 15:07:24 | Justine Parker

The Australian Stock Exchange board in Sydney on February 27, 2013. (AAP: Dean Lewins)

The share market closed higher for the sixth day in a row, hitting a two-month high buoyed by soaring prices for mining stocks, as commodity prices keep rising.

The All Ordinaries index rose by 1 per cent to close at 5,205 while the ASX 200 index added 53 points to finish on 5,143.

Mining shares rallied on the rebound for key commodity prices including copper, iron ore and oil.

Iron ore miner Fortescue Metals gained 23.7 per cent to $3.08, while its bigger rival BHP Billiton added 5 per cent to $18.55.

Bank stocks also jumped after a recent sell-off — NAB led the way, up 2.3 per cent to $27.23.

ANZ shares were also higher — it closed up 1.8 per cent at $25.48, as the law firm Maurice Blackburn confirmed it is looking into a possible class action against the bank over allegations of interest rate rigging.

Last week, corporate watchdog ASIC launched court action against ANZ over claims the bank manipulated the bank bill swap rate, which affects commercial and personal loan rates.

Elsewhere, media stocks were also in favour as the Ten Network jumped 11 per cent to $1.12, while Seven West Media added 5.2 per cent to $1.02.

Embattled law firm Slater and Gordon added 5.4 per cent to 39 cents.

Dollar strengthens against greenback

The dollar slipped against the greenback later in the day after hitting a seven-month high just over 74.4 US cents on the weekend.

Analysts said a stronger-than-expected jobs report in the US has boosted risk appetite among investors.

Commonwealth Bank currency analyst Joseph Capurso said he expected the dollar to remain between 70 and 75 US cents for the next few months.

"The gains in the Aussie in the past week are mainly because of good Australian economic data and partly because of some weakness in US economic data," he said.

"So the US dollar has fallen against most currencies, including the Australian dollar."

Higher commodity prices and last week's better than expected economic growth figures have also driven demand for the dollar.

At about 5:00pm AEDT, the dollar was buying 74.1 US cents, 67.4 euro cents, 84.3 Japanese yen and 52.1 British pence.

Checking commodities, and spot gold was buying $US1,262 an ounce while Brent crude jumped to $US3,945 a barrel.

AustraliaPlus


 

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