Australia Market advances as mining stocks rally

Headline indices of the Australia stock market inclined for third consecutive session on Monday, 09 July 2018, on tracking positive lead from Wall Street Friday after the release of upbeat jobs data that helped to offset worries about U.S.-China trade tensions. Investors continued to keep an eye on trade after the U.S. and China exchanged tariffs last week. Among ASX issues, shares in financials, realty, and material issues being notable gainers, however, losses in energy, industrials, healthcare, and utilities kept the benchmark gains in check. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index advanced 13.41 points, or 0.21% to 6,285.70. The broader All Ordinaries Index was up 12.33 points or 0.19% to 6,368.

Shares of materials and resources were key contributor to the benchmark gains, thanks to strong rebound in copper on the London Metal Exchange. BHP Billiton (BHP), Rio Tinto (RIO) and Fortescue Metals (FMG) were up by as much as 2%.

 

Financials also advanced, lending support to the rally on the main index. The big four banks were all in positive territory, with Commonwealth Bank and National Australia Bank leading the way, rising as much as 1%.

Real estate stocks, traditionally seen as bond proxies, also accumulated gains, with property managers such as GPT Group climbing as much as 2% to a more than six-month high, while Mirvac Group traded higher after a fall in US treasury yields.

Shares of gold miners were weak after gold prices edged lower Friday. Evolution Mining i and Newcrest Mining were losing in a range of 0.2% to 0.5%.

CURRENCY NEWS: The Australian dollar gained ground against greenback on Monday. The local currency was quoted at US$0.7434, up from US$0.7409 on Friday.

OFFSHORE MARKET: U.S. stocks closed higher on Friday as relatively upbeat jobs report offset worries about trade tensions between the U.S. and China. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 99.74 points or 0.41% to 24,456.48, the S&P 500 rose 23.21 points or 0.85% to 2,759.82 and the Nasdaq Composite Index added 101.96 points, or 1.34%, to 7,688.39.

The European markets ended with modest gains on Friday after staging a late recovery. The DAX of Germany climbed 0.26% and the CAC of France rose 0.18%. The FTSE 100 of the U.K. gained 0.19%.

COMMODITIES: Crude oil prices mixed on Friday. The continued supply outage at Canada's Syncrude oil sands facility supported US crude prices. But Saudi Arabia increased oil production by 458,000 barrels per day in June according to OPEC, pushing the Brent crude price lower. Brent crude fell by US28 cents or 0.4% to US$77.11 a barrel, but the US Nymex rose by US86 cents or 1.2% to US$73.80 a barrel. For the week, the Nymex lost 0.5% and Brent fell by 2.9%.

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