The Australian share market has regained some of Wednesday’s big losses with gains for the banking, energy and materials sectors leading the recovery.
The benchmark S&P/ASX200 gained 40.3 points, or 0.71 per cent, to 5706 points, after falling back to where it started the year in Wednesday’s session when sliding oil prices and commodities uncertainty helped wipe $26.5 billion off the market’s value.
After another two per cent fall in West Texas crude overnight, CMC Markets chief market strategist Michael McCarthy said energy drove much of the market’s gains.
“Wednesday’s sell off really went too far,” Mr McCarthy said.
“Falls were relatively mild elsewhere, in Europe and in the states but locally energy stocks were really belted.”
At the close on Thursday Santos and Origin had both gained more than one per cent to $2.95 and $6.90 respectively, Woodside was up three cents at $29.32 and Oil Search was 2.2 per cent higher at $6.60.
Mr McCarthy said it was a surprisingly strong day of trade across the board with a good deal of technical buying.
“I think we were expecting positive momentum but after mild leads overseas the overall gain has taken many analysts by surprise with a very good mix, suggesting the move is more about the broader market.”
One notable underperformer for the day was Domino’s, down 3.6 per cent to $52.60, its lowest since February 2016, as analysts at Citi gave the stock a sell rating.
“Citi initiated coverage of Domino’s and put a sell on it. It was too expensive with a lower growth profile but people have been saying this about Domino’s for a long time,” Mr McCarthy said.
“It’s a polarising stock: people always feel very strongly about it one way or another.”
Aussie miners continued to climb following a rise in commodity prices, including iron ore, with Rio Tinto up 37 cents to $58.37 and BHP Billiton inching ahead five cents to $22.15.
Fortescue Metals climbed 3.8 per cent to $4.69.
Elsewhere, banks again led the broader recovery with Westpac, Commonwealth Bank, ANZ and National Australia Bank all gaining between 1.2 per cent to 1.4 per cent.
“That’s very good support again after banks were sold down and they’ve have made a return to value after getting hit hard,” Mr McCarthy said.
The Australian dollar was relatively unchanged from Wednesday, valued at 75.54 US cents at 1700 AEST.
ON THE ASX:
*The benchmark S&P/ASX200 was up 40.3 points, or 0.71 per cent, at 5706 points
*The broader All Ordinaries index was up 39.1 points, or 0.69 per cent, at 5742.3 points.
*The September SPI200 futures contract was up 41 points, or 0.73 per cent, at 5645 points.
* National turnover was 2.1 billion securities traded worth $5.7 billion
CURRENCY SNAPSHOT AT 1700 AEST:
CURRENCY ASK BID PREVIOUS
AUD/USD 0.7556 0.7554 0.755
AUD/JPY 83.98 83.93 84.06
AUD/EUR 0.6765 0.676 0.6759
AUD/NZD 1.0415 1.0405 1.0441
AUD/GBP 0.5959 0.5956 0.5958
GOLD:
The spot price of gold in Sydney at 1700 AEST was $US1,253.40 per fine ounce, up $US8.47 from $US1,244.93 per fine ounce on Wednesday.
BOND SNAPSHOT AT 1630 AEST:
* CGS 4.50 per cent April 2020, 1.7636pct, from 1.7709pct on Wednesday
* CGS 4.75pct April 2027, 2.3729pct, from 2.3919pct
Sydney Futures Exchange prices:
* September 2017 10-year bond futures contract at 97.58 (implying a yield of 2.42pct), from 97.565 (2.435pct) on Wednesday
* September 2017 3-year bond futures contract at 98.19 (1.81pct) from 98.18 (1.82pct).
(*bond market closes taken at 1630 AEST previous local session)
