Stocks march towards calendar year high

The local sharemarket has jumped closer to a calendar year high, with resources leading the session.

The Australian sharemarket is just one strong session away from reaching a calendar year high, after strength in the resources space helped drive the fifth straight positive session on Wednesday.

At the closing bell, the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index had advanced 35.3 points, or 0.66 per cent, to 5,388.5, while the broader All Ordinaries index added 37.1 points, or 0.68 per cent, to 5,470.3.

The moves leave the benchmark just 20 points shy of its May 30 high for the year-to-date and the All Ordinaries a mere 3 points short of a new 2016 peak.

Altair Asset Management market analyst Tristan K’Nell cautioned the recent positive moves lacked conviction, however, given the shortage of volume.

“Market turnover was again only fair, so again while another positive day, there isn’t a whole lot of substance behind the rally, which isn’t a surprise given a host of macro-economic issues still up in the air worldwide and the NSW school holidays taking many out of the market,” he said.

“It will be interesting to see if the market holds onto gains when our local employment data is released.”

Local jobs data due at 11.30am (AEST) on Thursday is seen likely to have a major impact on the financial and retail sectors in particular, with the former extending a strong rally through Wednesday trade.

All members of the big four banks ended higher, with ANZ’s 1.2 per cent jump outpacing its rivals, as NAB and Westpac both rose 0.9 per cent and Commonwealth Bank tacked on 0.5 per cent.

In contrast, retailers lagged as July consumer sentiment numbers showed a slide in confidence.

Among the big names, JB Hi-Fi dipped 1.6 per cent and Wesfarmers gave back 0.8 per cent. Woolworths bucked the trend to end up 0.7 per cent.

Robust gains were seen in the resources space after iron ore soared 6 per cent and crude prices bounced almost 5 per cent during offshore trade.

Both BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto hit two-month peaks on the news, while iron ore miner Fortescue struck another two-year high.

At the close, BHP Billiton had bounded 3.3 per cent to $20.58, Rio Tinto had gained 2.8 per cent to $50.78 and Fortescue surged 5.5 per cent to $4.40.

In energy, Santos rallied 2.3 per cent to $4.80 and Woodside climbed 0.9 per cent to $27.04.

Meanwhile, Telstra inched up 0.2 per cent to $5.68, while Qantas lifted 2 per cent to $2.99.

The Australian dollar ended the local session at US75.85c, with lacklustre consumer sentiment and lending finance numbers driving a fall below US76c after the unit hit a two-month high of US76.54c on Tuesday night.