ASX 200 jumps on miners, banks; New Hope soars on profit surge

ASX breaks a two-day losing streak. New Hope leaps on profit surge, Brickworks bounces on upgrade, AMP falls after $14.5m fine and Kathmandu books record sales.

Sharemarket investors will get a clearer understanding of the Reserve Bank’s decision-making with its September board meeting minutes released today. Picture: David Swift

Welcome to the Trading Day blog for Tuesday, September 20. The Australian sharemarket snaps a two-day losing streak to close higher on broad gains led by materials and energy.

The S&P/ASX 200 index advanced 1.3 per cent, or 86.48 points, to 6806.40.

Wall Street closed higher with the S&P 500 index up 0.6 per cent to 3899 points while the Nasdaq index rose 0.7 per cent to 11,535 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average index was 0.6 per cent higher to 31,019 points.

US 10-year bond yields rose to a decade-high of 3.48 per cent, while two-year yields jumped to 3.94 per cent, a 15-year high.

Investors are expecting the US Federal Reserve to hike interest rates by another 75 basis points when it meets on Wednesday.

Oil prices are higher with global benchmark Brent crude rising 0.3 per cent to $US91.61 per barrel and the US Nymex is up 1.8 per cent to $US85.26 per barrel.

Iron ore futures fell by 0.4 per cent to US$98.63 per tonne.

The Aussie dollar was near US67.21c at the close.