Australia Market gains 0.3%

Headline indices of the Australia stock market inclined on Monday, 27 August 2018, on tracking the record closing highs on Wall Street Friday after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said a gradual approach to raising interest rates justified to protect the US economy and job growth. however, market gains were limited as a week of political tumult that saw the Scott Morrison become the country's sixth prime minister in less than 10 years. Total 8 out of 10 ASX issues inclined, with shares of information technology, materials, energy, utilities, and consumer discretionary issues were notable gainers. In late afternoon trade, the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index added 17.77 points, or 0.28%, to 6,265.10. The broader All Ordinaries Index rose 19.63 points, or 0.31%, to 6,377.50.

Shares of materials and resources inclined, as commodity prices including oil, iron ore, gold and copper rose approximately 1.5% thanks to a softer greenback. The market reacted to a speech from Fed chair Jerome Powell who suggested rates will only lift gradually as long as the US economy continues to improve. Top miners BHP and Rio Tinto each rose more than 1%. Newcrest Mining and Evolution Mining gained as much as 2.7% and 5%, respectively.

 

Financial stocks were down as initial findings from the banking royal commission - released after market close on Friday - strongly criticised superannuation funds run by National Australia Bank and Commonwealth Bank of Australia. Westpac, Commonwealth Bank, National Australia Bank and ANZ Banking - were lower in a range of 0.2% to 0.7%.

Among individual stocks, Child care centre operator Education was down as much as 16%, after forecasting weak market conditions until mid to late 2019.

Amaysim shares were up 3% after announcing a record revenue of A$577.6 million, up 77%, after a year of expansion and strong subscriber growth across its energy and telecommunications businesses.

G8 Education declined 13% after the operator of around 500 childcare centres delivered a 22% slide in first half profit to $23.7m. This was mainly due to a $10m lift in wages following regulatory changes to staffing ratios.

CURRENCY NEWS: The Australian dollar was higher against the U.S. dollar on Monday, on the back of comments from US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell affirming the Fed's current pace of rate hikes, disappointing dollar bulls. The local currency was quoted at US$0.7340, up from US$0.7284 on Friday.

OFFSHORE MARKET NEWS, US stock market closed higher on Friday, following remarks by Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell at the Kansas City Fed's economic policy symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Powell reiterated the Fed's stance that further gradual increases in interest rates will likely be appropriate if the strong growth in income and jobs continues. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 133.37 points or 0.5% to 25,790.35, the Nasdaq advanced 67.52 points or 0.9% to 7,945.98 and the S&P 500 climbed 17.71 points or 0.6% to 2,874.69.

The major European stock markets ended higher on Friday. The French CAC 40 Index, the German DAX Index and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index all rose by 0.2%.

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