Australia stocks got off to a firm start, aided by rises in all three major U.S. stock indicators Friday of which the Dow Jones industrial average and the S&P 500 index rewrote their record highs. The U.S. indexes' strong performances came as growth stocks, in particular, attracted buying, after the Labor Department's announcement of far weaker-than-expected growth in April's U.S. nonfarm payrolls eased concerns over a rise of long-term interest rates.
Meanwhile, higher commodity prices and encouraging data on retail sales and business conditions helped underpin sentiment.
Materials were the clear leader today, up 3.4%, followed by industrials which gained 1.4% and IT, up 1.1%. Utilities was the only sector in the red, down 0.1%.
Tyro Payments (TYR) closed 6.1% higher as it agreed to acquire health fintech Medipass (digital health payment platform) for A$22.5m in cash and shares.
Incitec Pivot (IPL) was 8.9% weaker as further disruptions at its Waggaman ammonia plant in the US were likely to impact its FY21 earnings (EBIT) of A$33m to A$42m.
ECONOMIC NEWS: Australia Retail Sales Up 1.3% On Month In March- Australia total value of retail sales was up a seasonally adjusted 1.3% on month in March, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Monday, coming in at A$30.699 billion. That follows the 0.8% contraction in February. On a yearly basis, retail sales climbed 2.2%. Individually, food retailing was down 0.9% on month, while household goods fell 0.1%, clothing climbed 5.4%, department stores were up 8.5%, cafes and takeout food gained 4.8% and other retailing rose .4%. In the first quarter of 2021, retail sales fell 0.5% and gained 4.7% on year at A$86.393 billion.
CURRENCY NEWS: The U.S. dollar were roughly flat at 90.25 against a basket of its peers.The Australian dollar was flat at $0.7848.
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