ASX 200 up 1.7pc, with gains across the board

The sharemarket closed 1.7 per cent higher, with gains across the board, led by the heavyweight financial sector. News Corp found strong support after its mega $3.4bn Foxtel deal.

ASX shares rose almost 1.7% on Monday.

The Australian sharemarket roared to finish 1.7 per cent higher, as investors piled in on the back of a Wall Street rebound.

The ASX 200 index closed up 134.6 points at 8,201.6 on Monday, with gains across the board, led by the heavyweight financial sector ahead of a shorter trading week, due to Christmas.

Sharemarket operator ASX’s platform got back to normal after Friday’s major outage of its key technology platform CHESS.

The problem was fixed over the weekend as financial regulators ASIC and the Reserve Bank kept watch on developments. CHESS Batch Settlement commencement was extended to 12.30pm AEDT to cater for additional time for rescheduled settlement.

In the US, all three indexes – the Dow Jones, S & P 500 and Nasdaq – closed 1 per cent higher on Friday, ending a volatile week with losses of at least 1.8 per cent. The S & P 500 index fell 3 per cent in one session last week following the Federal Reserve’s signal that interest rates might stay higher in 2025 than investors had expected.

However, new US inflation data – showing prices rose lower than expected in November – stemmed investor fears during the last session, while the passage of the US government funding bill also gave reason for optimism. US 10-year bond yields edged higher to settle near 4.53 per cent.

The release of the RBA’s December meeting minutes on Tuesday is likely to be the biggest highlight of this week.

Capital.com’s senior financial market analyst Kyle Rodda predicted sluggish trade. “The markets are likely to trade sluggishly going into the holiday season; liquidity, as is typical during this period, may be thin, with markets prone to unexpected bumps and air pockets,” Mr Rodda said.

The ASX is closed on Christmas Day and Boxing Day this week, following an early close of 2.10pm AEDT on Christmas Eve.

The financial sector was the top performer, rising 2.3 per cent, with all the big four banks up. Australia’s biggest bank, Commonwealth Bank, jumped 2.9 per cent to $154.68, while ANZ gained 2.4 per cent. National Australia Bank and Westpac also rose around 2 per cent.

News Corp’s shares closed 3.3 per cent higher at $50.66 on the ASX following the sale of streaming group Foxtel.

Shares in Super Retail Group, the owner of retail brands Supercheap Auto, rebel, BCF and Macpac, jumped nearly 5 per cent to $15.49 after notching partial victory in its whistleblower case.

With the mining sector, IGO rose 2.1 per cent to $4.90, despite declaring that its joint venture wouldn’t pay a dividend in fiscal 2025, due to current market conditions, the continued ramp up of a plant at its refinery in Western Australia and lower product sales.

Meanwhile, health imaging giant Pro Medicus is showing no signs of slowing down, bagging another contract for its ‘full stack’ Visage product.Its shares jumped 2.7 per cent to $255.44 after securing a seven-year $30m deal with large US-based group Duly Health and Care, which has a presence in the private radiology/outpatient space, “an area of the market where we are starting to see increased opportunity”.

The Aussie dollar was priced around US62.57c at 5pm (AEDT).