ASX ends day higher following hopes of US stimulus
A hopeful US stimulus package has prompted an upbeat end for Thursday’s local trading day, with Australian mining shares rallying.
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A hopeful US stimulus package has prompted an upbeat end for Thursday’s local trading day, with Australian mining shares rallying off the back of a surging iron ore price.
The benchmark S&P/ ASX 200 index ended the session up 57 points or 1 per cent to 5872.9, largely off strong rises in mining and resource stocks.
The broader All Ordinaries added 60 points, or 1 per cent to finish the day at 6069.4, while the Australian dollar was up 0.4 per cent to 71.92 US cents at the close of the local market.
ThinkMarkets analyst Carl Capolingua said the sharemarket had recovered from its previous day’s falls, with miners helped from a gains in copper prices.
“The miners were helped by a nice gain in copper prices on the back of better than expected data on manufacturing in China and in the US on Wednesday,” he said.
Reliance Worldwide experienced the largest gains, rising 10.5 per cent to $4.22 per share, off the back off a rise in September sales.
Financial company Omni Bridgway fell 3.1 per cent to $3.81 per share - the largest fall of the day.
Strong iron ore prices led a share price surge for major miners, with Rio Tinto ending the session up 1.2 per cent to $95.4 per share.
Rival BHP rose 1.9 per cent to $36.29 per share, while Fortescue Metals climbed 2.3 per cent to $16.68 per share.
The big four banks closed the session in positive territory.
Commonwealth Bank rose 0.7 per cent to $64.04 per share, while stock in Westpac increased 0.5 per cent to $16.92 per share.
ANZ shares rose 1 per cent to $17.39 each and NAB finished the day up 0.5 per cent to $17.83 per share.
Shares in Qantas rose 2 per cent to $4.13 each and major telco provider Telstra increased its stock price by 0.7 per cent to $2.80 per share.
Woolworths ended the session up 0.1 per cent to $36.46 per share, while Wesfarmers rose 0.3 per cent to $44.56 per share.
Originally published as ASX ends day higher following hopes of US stimulus