Stocks end slightly higher as oil prices support sentiment

The local market booked a third close in the black, despite employment figures putting interest rates in focus.

The Australian sharemarket has limped to its third straight positive close, despite soft employment data and a bevy of mixed production reports and company updates.

At the close, the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index had edged up 6.7 points, or 0.12 per cent, to 5,442.1, while the broader All Ordinaries index rose 7.8 points, or 0.14 per cent, to 5,526.2.

A 2.5 per cent jump in crude prices in offshore trade had set the tone for the positive session, alongside gains on Wall Street, but gains were kept in check as official labour market numbers showed an unexpected reduction in jobs in September.

While analysts do not anticipate the jobs data to lead to another rate cut this year, it undoubtedly raised the prospect of further moves and weighed on the banks and the Australian dollar as a result.

“When the market starts to get excited about a trend developing we see the newsflow throwing doubt into traders’ mindsets. And that has occurred somewhat today with a poor September employment report,” IG chief market strategist Chris Weston said.

“Things get very interesting if we get a weak third-quarter inflation report next Wednesday, especially after RBA governor Dr Lowe has emphasised the importance of this print.”

Traders also had the final US presidential debate to worry about through the session, with the prospect of a Hillary Clinton win seen crucial to market stability through the final quarter of the year.

While no winner was obvious, CMC Markets chief market analyst Ric Spooner noted the election trading proxy of the Mexican peso to the US dollar had shown no signs of any improvement in Donald Trump’s fortunes.

“Markets appear to have made up their mind about the US election,” he said.

“(US dollar) selling gathered momentum this week and today’s final presidential debate has not turned things around.

“Rightly or wrongly, markets now seem to be largely discounting a Trump victory.”

The finance sector lagged the broader market, with only ANZ ending higher among the big four, while CBA and NAB ended modestly lower and Westpac underperformed with a 0.6 per cent retreat.

In energy, Santos bounded 4.1 per cent to $3.82, while Origin Energy added 0.7 per cent to $5.66 and Woodside climbed 0.9 per cent to $29.57.

In materials, BHP advanced 1.7 per cent to $22.85, while Rio Tinto underperformed in tacking on 0.5 per cent to $50.96 after downgrading its full-year production guidance and Fortescue skidded 1.9 per cent to $5.05 despite topping the market’s first-quarter forecasts.

James Packer’s Crown Resorts stumbled 2.3 per cent, failing to stem this week’s bleeding despite the group’s board giving the ‘all clear’ to a planned float of some of its hotel operations.

Among other blue chips, Telstra weakened 0.6 per cent to $5.06, while Qantas lifted 1.6 per cent to $3.26.

Elsewhere, Ten Network plunged 19 per cent as its full-year loss narrowed, Brambles slipped 0.3 per cent on a modest first quarter result and The Reject Shop dived 12.7 per cent as traders further dissected yesterday’s soft update.

Meanwhile, the Australian dollar tumbled US0.6c through the local session due to the weak jobs report, ending trade at US76.65c.