A rebound in key overseas markets has helped push the Australian share market more than one per cent higher.
The ASX continued to recover from recent global volatility which saw it shed $64 billion earlier in the week, closing higher for the third straight day on Thursday.
A three per cent rise in US stocks overnight gave local investors some sense of stability, Patersons Securities private client advisor Sam Fimis said, while the Shanghai Composite index, a key indicator of Chinese stocks, was also trading positively.
“Wall Street provided a good reason to rebound strongly,” Mr Fimis said.
“The volatility’s been quite significant and some value has come back to the market.
“At these prices, investors will feel they’re getting a pretty fair deal.”
All sectors closed in positive territory.
Among the big banks, Commonwealth added 30 cents to $76.43, Westpac gained 36 cents to $31.64, NAB rose 17 cents to $31.56 and ANZ was up 50 cents to $28.57.
“What we’ve seen is bluechip companies that have historically shown sustainable high yield outperforming today,” Mr Fimis said.
“Hopefully, our market can stabilise and not see that significant fluctuation as the market’s been in a bit of a `shoot first, ask questions later’ type of mood.”
In major company news, health products maker Blackmores closed at $109 after breaking the $100-a-share milestone on Wednesday.
Ramsay Health Care gained $3.34 to $63.68 after reporting a 27 per cent full year profit rise, while Nine Entertainment rose five cents to $1.50 despite posting a full year loss of nearly $600 million.
Retail Food Group shares were up 10 per cent to $5.28 after its underlying profit rose almost 50 per cent.
Among the big miners, BHP Billiton jumped 12 cents to $24.06, Rio Tinto lost eight cents to $48.81, while Fortescue Metals dropped 1.5 cents to $1.79.
KEY FACTS
At the close on Thursday, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was up 60.5 points, or 1.17 per cent, at 5,233.3 points.
The broader All Ordinaries index was up 63.7 points, or 1.23 per cent, at 5,242.6 points.
The September share price index futures contract was 61 points higher at 5,186, with 48,991 contracts traded at 1642 AEST.
National turnover was 1.2 billion securities worth $7.3 billion.
