Australian share market rallies after US Federal Reserve pause

A positive lead from Wall St overnight, buoyed by the US Federal Reserve’s most recent rates pause, saw Aussie markets rise on Thursday.

The Australian share market rallied on Thursday to reach a two-week high following a positive lead from Wall St overnight after the US Federal Reserve kept rates on hold.

The S & P/ASX200 climbed 0.9 per cent, or 61.4 points, to 6,899.7, while the All Ordinaries added 1 per cent to 7,095. The Australian dollar was fetching US64.25¢.

In a press conference after the Fed’s decision on Wednesday (Thursday AEDT), chair Jerome Powell left the door open for a December rate hike and said the central bank was not yet confident it had done enough to bring inflation in the US back to target.

US markets were buoyed following the Fed Reserve’s decision to keep rates on hold. Picture: AFP / Saul Loeb.

“It’s fair to say that the question we’re asking is ‘should we hike more?’” chairman Powell said.

Across the benchmark in Australia, nine of 11 industry sectors finished in the green, led by gains in interest-rate tech stocks which soared 3.2 per cent.

Sector heavyweight Xero added 3.5 per cent to $110.75, Wisetech Global climbed 3.4 per cent to $59.98 and Altium rose 3.5 per cent to $40.93.

Real estate and telecommunication stocks also performed strongly, climbing 2.4 per cent and 2 per cent, respectively.

Utilities were the worst performers on the benchmark, dropping 3.8 per cent.

Origin Energy plunged 6.6 per cent after AustralianSuper said it had rejected a revised takeover offer. Picture: supplied.

In company news, Origin plunged 6.6 per cent to $8.47 after AustralianSuper announced it would knock back a higher takeover offer from a Brookfield-led consortium. Despite offering $9.53 a share, the super fund which holds a 13.68 per cent stake in the firm, said it would vote against the “best and final” offer.

Energy sector heavyweight Santos dropped 2.9 per cent to $7.51 after the federal court ruled against the company’s proposed commencement of its $5.8bn Barossa gas pipeline project in the Timor Sea.

Lithium producer Sayona Mining was the best performing stock, rising 8.3 per cent to 7.8c. Releasing a fresh drilling update, the miner said it had identified multiple, high-grade lithium intercepts at the North American Lithium operation in Quebec it holds a 75 per cent stake in.