Local shares were experiencing gains despite another soft lead from Wall Street. US markets fell for a third straight session as investors digest US-China trade updates. Improvements are across most sectors but financials remain in the red with further falls for the big banks.
Material stocks gained, supported by the iron ore miners after overnight prices of the commodity ticked higher. The country's top miners, BHP Group and Rio Tinto, rose over 1%, while iron ore giant Fortescue Metals Group rose 3.2%.
Energy stocks rose, underpinned by a two-day rally in oil prices on longer Opec supply cuts and optimism on the trade front. Shares of Beach Energy rose, with Woodside Petroleum up 1.3%. Beach Energy rose 1.5%.
Shares of Westpac declined about 1% after Goldman Sachs cut its price target for the stock by 10%. The lender's stock has slipped in the past few days after Australia's anti money-laundering and terrorism financing regulator filed for civil penalty orders against the firm, alleging its oversight of the banking and designated services provided through its corresponding banking relationships was deficient..
Mayne Pharma declined 10%, after providing a downbeat update for the first four months of FY20 at its AGM. Revenue was down 16% on the prior year with greater competition among its generic products squeezing profit margins. Retailer, Kathmandu (KMD) was also weaker by 0.3% after an update its AGM.
CURRENCY NEWS: The Australian dollar, sensitive to shifts in broader risk appetite, eased against greenback, after soft business activity numbers from the CBA/HIS Markit PMI surveys for November. The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.6793 after declining from highs around $0.681 yesterday.
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