Strong start as market shakes it off

THE Australian share market has closed higher, posting its strongest gains in the health care sector, led by private hospitals operator Ramsey Health.

A man watches the ASX trading board in Sydney on Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2015. After an initial 1.5 per cent plunge, the S&P/ASX 200 and the All Ordinaries which pulled both indices below 5,000 points, a recovery among key heavyweight bank stocks pushed the market back into positive territory. (AAP Image/Paul Miller) NO ARCHIVING

THE Australian share market has closed higher, posting its strongest gains in the health care sector, led by private hospitals operator Ramsey Health.

At the close on Thursday, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was 60.5 points, or 1.17 per cent, higher at 5,233.3, while the broader All Ordinaries index was up 63.7 points, or 1.23 per cent, at 5,242.6.

On the ASX 24, the September share price index futures contract was 75 points higher at 5,200, with 46,494 contracts traded.

Earlier, the market surged almost 1.5 per cent higher, following Wall Street’s three per cent gains, a sign traders were shrugging off recent volatility.

IG market analyst Angus Nicholson said it was a strong start for the Aussie market, and was confident that the surge would continue throughout the day.

“The Chinese stock market is having less of an influence on the Aussie stocks at the moment,” he said.

“The Chinese economy is still a concern for the world economy at the moment but we’re seeing the Shanghai Composite bottom a bit, so I don’t think we’re going to see as much influence today when the Chinese stock market opens.”

Mr Nicholson said the early gains in banking stocks were particularly encouraging. However, there were some disappointments in the market.

Shares in Boral were down 6.2 per cent to $5.89, despite the building products maker increasing its full year profit by almost 50 per cent to $257 million.

“Boral was the big surprise to the downside. They massively lowered their guidance for the 2016 financial year, so that’s really hitting the stock at the moment,” Mr Nicholson said.

Southern Cross Austereo posted a $285 million full year loss following writedowns to its radio and regional TV businesses, which pushed its share down almost two per cent to 89.75 cents.