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Category: Stockmarket / Currency / Markets

Shares surge as major banks bounce back

Thursday, 31 Mar 2016 12:22:40 | Thuy Ong

The banking sector has rebounded from recent losses pulling the ASX up. (File photo: Reuters TV)

Australian shares have jumped in late trade, boosted by gains in all major sectors, especially banking and materials as investors took positive cues from Wall Street.

The big four banks all rose, led by top lender the Commonwealth Bank of Australia which gained 2 per cent, while National Australia Bank also bounced 2 per cent.

The ASX 200 had climbed 1.3 per cent to 5,074 around 3:00pm (AEDT), while the All Ords jumped 1.2 per cent to 5,143.

For the month, the ASX 200 is on track to post a jump of 3.9 per cent, but for the quarter the ASX looks set to drop 4.2 per cent after dismal months in January and February.

The share market experienced a woeful start to the year on concerns of a slowdown in the world's second largest economy, China, and volatility in commodity prices, which has continued to weigh on investor sentiment heading into the second quarter.

"Portfolio managers are entering the second quarter and the need to drive outperformance is even higher than it has been, because how many would have not have fully participated in the risk rally?" wrote Chris Weston, chief market strategist at IG, in a note.

"Clients will be turning to fund managers and seeing some monster underperformances, while many of the passive funds (that track benchmarks) would be seen as the better place to be."

Optimism, however, has been partially buoyed as the US Federal Reserve indicated the path to raising rates may be slower than it had previously flagged.

Elsewhere on the market, major miners BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto hopped 1.6 per cent and 2.1 per cent higher respectively.

Blue chip stock Telstra bounced 1.7 per cent, while insurance companies Suncorp and QBE soared 2.6 per cent and 1.6 per cent each.

Across the Asia-Pacific region shares were hovering at four-month highs as most Asian bourses gained.

China's CSI 300 index was up 0.3 per cent to 3,227, while Japan's Nikkei ticked 0.1 per cent higher to 16,899.

The Australian dollar has slipped 0.2 per cent to 76.55 US cents after hovering near nine-month highs in the previous session.

AustraliaPlus


 

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