Stocks bounce as global mood turns up

The local market has been boosted by rising oil prices and a positive Wall Street lead.

The Australian sharemarket has rebounded in early trade after a steady bid on Wall Street, driven by rising crude prices and a calming of fears around Germany’s Deutsche Bank.

At 10.30am (AEDT), the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index bounced 15.9 points, or 0.29 per cent, to 5,468.8, while the broader All Ordinaries index gained 15.5 points, or 0.28 per cent, to 5,552.5.

CMC Markets chief market strategist Michael McCarthy said the doomsayers around Deutsche Bank were quickly looking foolish, while traders were also encouraged by strong US data.

“Deutsche Bank shares … [are] more than 20 per cent above recent lows, and embarrassing for the Chicken Littles of the financial world who just a week ago were solemnly ushering in another ‘Lehman Brothers’ market event,” he said.

“Steadier investor nerves provided a launch pad for US markets when services activity, durable goods orders and factory orders all surprised on the upside.”

Mr McCarthy said energy stocks would join financials as the big winners through the session after crude regained momentum on positive data.

“US oil inventories continued to fall from the peak of 540 million barrels,” he said.

“A drawdown of almost three million barrels saw the stockpile slip below 500 million barrels for the first time since January.

“The consequent rally in crude pushed the energy sector to compete with financials as the best performers [on Wall Street], and both outstripped the broader market with gains of more than 1.4 per cent.”

In the local energy sector, Santos surged 2.5 per cent to $3.955, Origin Energy added 1.7 per cent to $5.505, while Woodside bounced 0.6 per cent to $29.07.

In materials, BHP Billiton rallied 1.3 per cent to $23.15, Rio Tinto advanced 1 per cent to $52.40 and Fortescue leapt 1.3 per cent to $4.885.

The big four banks all pushed higher, outstripping the broader market gains, as parliamentary interrogations continued with the grilling of NAB chief executive Andrew Thorburn.

ANZ and Commonwealth Bank added 0.5 per cent, while NAB and Westpac won 0.4 per cent.

Bank of Queensland went against the trend in sliding 2.5 per cent after detailing full-year earnings numbers that failed to meet expectations.

Among other blue chips, Telstra gave back 1.4 per cent to $5.08, while Qantas weakened 0.6 per cent to $3.14.

Elsewhere, Estia Health tumbled 10 per cent to $2.97 on a profit outlook downgrade, while Australian Pharmaceutical Industries surged 5.8 per cent as the departure of chief executive Stephen Roche coincided with an earnings upgrade.

Meanwhile, the Australian dollar was steady around US76.2c in morning deals.