The Australian share market has made its best single-day gain in a month as investors snapped up beaten-down stocks.
CMC Markets chief market analyst Ric Spooner said the jump in the market was surprising given that there was no obvious driver or news when the session started.
Mr Spooner said Friday’s rally may have been driven by significant interest from overseas investors.
“The logic there would be that a weaker Australian dollar benefits overseas investors,” Mr Spooner said.
“It may also be that people looked at yesterday’s capital expenditure figures and figured that we’re going to see a weaker Australian dollar and possibly lower interest rates.”
Official data released on Thursday showed that business investment fell 4.4 per cent in the March quarter, a much larger fall than the median market forecast of 2.4 per cent.
The Australian dollar fell in the wake of the disappointing figures and sparked speculation of another interest rate cut.
Mr Spooner said overseas interest in the Australian market on Friday could have encouraged local investors sitting on the sidelines to join the buying spree.
The charge upwards was led by the big banks.
Commonwealth Bank rose $1.59 to $85.09, ANZ lifted 47 cents to $33.19, National Australia Bank strengthened 88 cents to $34.32, and Westpac was 44 cents higher at $33.56.
In the resources sector, global miner BHP Billiton gained 39 cents to $29.59, Rio Tinto advanced 55 cents to $58.20, and Fortescue Metals scraped off one cent at $2.42.
Evolution Mining was steady at $1.175 as it successfully raised $172 million to help fund its purchase of the Cowal gold mine in NSW.
Telstra put on seven cents at $6.22.
KEY FACTS
* At 1616 AEST on Friday, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was up 64.1 points, or 1.12 per cent, at 5,777.2 points.
* The broader All Ordinaries index was up 60.3 points, or 1.06 per cent, at 5,774.9 points.
* The June share price index futures contract was up 51 points at 5,780 points, with 34,818 contracts traded.
* National turnover was 2.4 billion securities worth $8.4 billion.
