ASX 200 has strong start to new calendar year as 10 of 11 sectors trade higher
The ASX 200 had a strong opening trading day for 2025, led by growth in the energy, materials and property sectors.
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The Australian sharemarket rose on the first day of trading in 2025, despite futures markets falling 1 per cent before the opening bell on Thursday.
The benchmark ASX 200 index rose by 42.10 points or 0.52 per cent to close Thursday’s trading at 8201.20.
The ASX200 strong start to 2025 follows a difficult end to 2024, which saw the index fall 3.28 per cent in December, effectively erasing a strong November where markets were up at 3.38 per cent.
The broader All Ordinaries rose by 44.50 points or 0.53 per cent to 8465.00.
On an overall strong day for the market with 10 of the 11 sectors trading higher, including energy stocks which were up 1.46 per cent and materials which grew 1.09 per cent.
Only consumer staples fell during Thursday’s trading.
It comes after major US stock indexes ended the final trading day of the year overnight in the red.
The S & P 500 dropped 0.4 per cent, the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.9 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined less than 0.1 per cent.
Even so, the major US indexes had their best two-year rally in more than 25 years. The S & P 500 rose 23 per cent in 2024, the Dow 13 per cent and the Nasdaq 29 per cent.
On the ASX 200 the major miners were upbeat on stronger commodity prices.
The top performing stocks in the index were Liontown Resources up 7.62 per cent to close the day at $0.575 and Paladin Energy which grew 4.497 per cent to $7.90
IG market analyst Tony Sycamore said the worst performing sector of the ASX in 2024 is having the strongest start to 2025.
“Last year, the unloved energy sector fell 20.02 per cent, but with the rise in crude oil prices above $US72 a barrel for the first time in two months, energy stocks led the day’s trading,” he said.
Beach Energy increased by 1.79 per cent to $1.42, Viva Energy rose 1.90 per cent to $2.68, Woodside Energy grew 1.46 per cent to $24.96, and Santos climbed 165 per cent to $6.76.
“On the other hand, the Consumer Discretionary sector, which surged a stunning 20.10 per cent in 2024, underperformed the market on Thursday,” Mr Sycamore said.
While the sector was below the average it still finished in the green up 0.12 per cent.
The Aussie dollar has fallen sharply during the overnight trading, hitting a near-five-year low that is the worst seen since the Covid pandemic.
The currency briefly hit 61.84 US cents during Thursday morning’s trading, but has since risen to 62.14 US cents at 4.30pm.
Its last low was 61.85 US cents on April 7, 2020.
It was a good day for the major banks and miners who all started 2025 in positive territory.
Commonwealth Bank is up 0.21 per cent to $153.57 while Westpac grew 0.28 per cent to $32.41.
NAB was the strongest of the big four banks up 0.38 per cent to $37.24 while ANZ was the weakest closing up 0.18 per cent to $28.59.
It was a strong trading day on Thursday for Fortescue metals surging 3.07 per cent to $18.81 while BHP closed 1.04 per cent higher at $39.96 and Rio Tinto grew 0.64 per cent to $118.21.
Originally published as ASX 200 has strong start to new calendar year as 10 of 11 sectors trade higher
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