ASX200 jumps as CBA reaches a record high

A surge in the banking sector on the back of better than expected employment figures has helped drive the ASX200 higher during Thursday’s trading.

Australia’s sharemarket turned positive during Thursday trading on the back of stronger than expected employment figures, which helped drive the major banks higher, keeping the ASX win streak alive.

The benchmark ASX200 finished marginally higher on Thursday, up 17.90 points or 0.22 per cent to 8,297.50.

The broader All Ordinaries also jumped 9.60 points or 0.11 per cent to 8,529.80.

The Australian dollar is also up now buying 64.30 US cents.

On an overall positive day, six of the 11 sectors finished in the green, led by information technology and financial shares on the back of ‘risk on’ sentiment out of Wall Street.

Commonwealth Bank shares hit a record high of $169.74 at the end of trading on the ASX, after a late market push.

NAB also climbed 1.36 per cent to $36.59, while Westpac is up 0.83 per cent to $31.52 and ANZ is trading in the green up 1.65 per cent to $29.

The ASX 200 jumped on the back of better than expected job figures. Picture Newswire/ Gaye Gerard.

Despite initially falling on the opening bell, the local bourse rallied about 11.30am after it was revealed 89,000 Australians found work in April. This was compared to market expectations of between 20-25,000 Aussies joining the workforce.

VanEck deputy head of investments capital markets Jamie Hannah said this was particularly good news for the major banks.

“The chances of a rate cut looking further into the year has certainly fallen since the [the job] figures came out as the economy is looking to be holding up and inflation could be holding around for a longer as well,” Mr Hannah said.

“So, the job results, whilst it is a monthly stat and it’s open to variability, it has obviously changed some of the market’s perceptions on where things are going.”

Even with the stronger than expected job data, investors still expect the Reserve Bank of Australia to announce its second rate cut for the year next Tuesday.

Commonwealth bank senior economist Belinda Allen said despite a rebound in employment, the big four bank was still factoring in a rate cut.

Overall six of the 11 sectors finished in the green. Picture: NewsWire / Max Mason-Hubers

“We stick with our call for the RBA to deliver a 25 basis point rate cut at the May board meeting as the unemployment rate and wages growth have printed broadly as the RBA expected,” she said.

Technology shares also finished heavily in the green, up 2.06 per cent on a whole to be the best performing sector.

Xero shares were one of the standouts up 4.71 per cent to $182.05 after announcing revenue grew 23 per cent to $NZ2.1bn, although subscriber growth slowed 6 per cent to 4.41 million new users.

WiseTech shares also jumped 1.86 per cent to $103.77, Technology One Limited grew 1.27 per cent to $32.81 and Objective corporation was up 2.24 per cent to $17.78.

The price of iron ore also lifted back above $US100 a tonne this week on demand hopes following the US-China tariff reduction.

But it did not flow onto the major iron ore miners which all finished in the red.

BHP slipped 0.66 per cent to $39.19, Rio Tinto closed 0.39 per cent lower to $120.02 and Fortescue Metals slumped 1.06 per cent to $16.79.

In company news shares in Treasury Wine Estates dropped 5.15 to $8.65 after announcing chief executive Tim Ford will be leaving the Penfolds and Wolf Blass owner at the end of the year.

The wine maker announced current Lions chief executive Sam Fischer will be stepping into the role in October.

One of the top risers was agribusiness GrainCorp which jumped 8.81 per cent to $7.78 after it announced it was upgrading its profit guidance. The company reported on Thursday a 17.1 per cent increase in first half-net profits, as it announced a 24 cent dividend made up of 14 cents ordinary dividend and 10 cents epcial dividends.

Originally published as ASX200 jumps as CBA reaches a record high