Local stocks tap fresh 11-year high

The local bourse has clawed its way back from early falls to book its sixth session of consecutive gains.

The boards at the ASX in Sydney. Hollie Adams/The Australian

The local sharemarket finished the higher for the sixth straight session, extending its rally in the wake of the federal election and APRA’s proposed easing of lending rules.

At the close of trade, the ASX benchmark S&P/ASX200 had gained 10.556 points, or 0.16 per cent to 6510.699 points. The broader All Ordinaries index had lifted 13.716 points, or 0.21 per cent, to 6598.102 points.

After a negative start, the ASX 200 clawed its way back to close out Wednesday’s session modestly higher.

The gains came after minutes from the latest Reserve Bank meeting released on Tuesday appeared to strengthen the case for a near-term rate cut.

“It was a continuation of what we’ve seen all week, I think the market has generally reacted quite well to things like the surprise election result, the Reserve Bank flagging potential interest rate cuts and also APRA, which made some comments suggesting it may ease mortgage serviceability rules,” CommSec market analyst Steven Daghlian.

“These things have been seen as a potential positive for the property market and that’s why even though they are down today, the big banks have been shooting the lights out all week.”

BHP added 0.3 per cent to $38.07 while Rio Tinto put on 0.4 per cent to $101.70. Fortescue was the biggest weight on the index after slumping 8.1 per cent to $8.27 as it traded ex-dividend and announced a new mine development.

Westpac rose 1.1 per cent to $28.81 while Commonwealth Bank was unchanged at $79.00. ANZ inched down 0.2 per cent to $28.38 while NAB edged 0.2 per cent lower to $26.15.

IOOF tumbled 7.1 per cent to $5.37 on news the financial services group faces the prospect of committing a criminal offence if it does not meet the banking regulator’s new deadline to clean up its superannuation business.

Hospital operator Healthscope edged back 0.4 per cent to $2.46 after its shareholders voted in favour of the company’s takeover by Canadian asset manager Brookfield.

Lynas extended a near-15 per cent gain on Tuesday, lifting a further 7.1 per cent to $2.43 after the rare earths miner flagged investment in its processing facility in Malaysia, as well as plans to set up a facility in WA amid specualtion trade war tensions could hit the rare earths market.

Developer Stockland gained 3.8 per cent to $4.42 on an upgrade by Macquarie analysts as the outlook for residential housing looked more upbeat in the wake of the election and after APRA announced it would loosen lending rules.

Meanwhile, Australian Agricultural Company put on 2.2 per cent to $1.14 on a positive strategy update after the beef producer announced a lift to underlying operating profit for the full-year through March.

Origin Energy inched up 0.1 per cent to $7.86 after the ACCC said it wouldn’t oppose the proposed $231m sale of its Ironbark coal seam gas project to Australia Pacific LNG.

Energy was the strongest sector despite a slight backtrack in the price of oil overnight.

Santos stepped up 0.3 per cent to $7.36 while Oil Search climbed 0.4 per cent to $7.72. Woodside Petroleum grew 1 per cent to $37.40.

The Australian dollar was largely unchanged in late trade at US68.74 cents.