Australian stocks end on 100-day high as vaccine hopes continue
Positive news of a promising coronavirus vaccine has prompted an ongoing sharemarket surge with local stocks hitting eight- month highs.
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Positive news of a promising coronavirus vaccine has prompted an ongoing sharemarket surge, with local stocks hitting eight month highs.
The local benchmark S&P/ ASX 200 index ended Wednesday’s session up 109 points, or 1.7 per cent, to 6449.7, setting a new 100-day high as the potential Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine continues to provide a sugar hit to global markets.
The broader All Ordinaries index rose 107 points, or 1.6 per cent, to 6651.1, while the Australian dollar was up 0.3 per cent to 73.08 US cents at the close of the local session.
AMP equities manager Dermot Ryan said the reaction to the vaccine news had resulted in uplifts in financial and travel sectors, which have experienced subdued performance throughout the pandemic.
“Sectors like travel, energy and banking that were at their lowest quarterly proportions of our ASX200 index at the beginning of this quarter are among the biggest gainers of the vaccine’s boost so far,” Mr Ryan said.
“These three poster child value sectors are now so cheap that they might offer high EPS (earnings per share) growth, as much lower valuations than you can get in the growth side of the market and that is why they can make sustained gains as the virus is forced to retreat.”
Virgin Money experienced the largest daily gains with its share price soaring 14.3 per cent to $2.40, while Ramelius Resources was the worst performer of the day, falling 4.9 per cent to $1.92 per share.
Major banks all benefited from the market uplift.
Commonwealth Bank’s shares rose 2.8 per cent to $74.4, while NAB stock ended the session 2.6 per cent to $21.82 per share.
Westpac shares rose 2 per cent to $18.73 each and stock in ANZ lifted 3.2 per cent to $20.83 per share.
Major miners ended the trading day in positive territory with Rio Tinto shares rising 1.8 per cent to $36.85 each, while its major competitor BHP rose 2.3 per cent to $36.85 per share.
Whitehaven Coal also made considerable gains throughout the session with is share price hiking 8.9 per cent to $1.23 each.
Vaccine hopes helped Qantas share to rise 1.4 per cent to $5.14 per share, while travel group Flight Centre saw its shares lift 1.5 per cent to $15.94 each.
JB Hi-Fi shares slumped 4.4 per cent to $44.4 each following downgrades by investment analyst about future consumer behaviour.
Woolworths were up 1.6 per cent to 38.25 per share and Wesfarmers closed the day in positive territory, up 0.3 per cent to $47.57 per share.
Originally published as Australian stocks end on 100-day high as vaccine hopes continue