Market wrap: ASX200 rises on rally in iron ore and gold miners

A sharp rise in iron ore and gold miners lifted the Australian stock market on Thursday, offsetting a decline in banking giant NAB.

The benchmark ASX200 index rose 26.3 points, or 0.3 percent, to 8828.3 points, while the broader All Ordinaries index rose 27.4 points, or 0.3 percent, to 9,098.6 points.

7 out of 11 industrial sectors ended in green, led by the materials sector, with an increase of 1.4 percent.

Major miners jumped as Singapore iron ore futures fell 0.25 per cent to US$103.25 per tonne in afternoon trade.

BHP rose 1.56 percent to $43 per share, Rio Tinto rose 2.28 percent to $130.76 and Fortescue rose 2.05 percent to $20.38.

Moomoo market strategist Michael McCarthy said the rise was due to investors’ increasing confidence in global growth prospects.

“Inflation figures make the headlines, but the growth numbers underlying them and supporting these increases in prices are stronger than expected,” he said.

“And so we’re seeing better performance in the commodity complex.

“Take precious metals out of the equation for now, but energy and industrial metals producers have been outperforming over the last six weeks; the market appears to have adjusted for the fact that commodity prices have not fallen as much as expected despite many fundamentals being in place.”

Gold stocks rose as bullion prices rose 1.3 per cent to US$3982 overnight on Wednesday.

Evolution Mining rose 3.87 percent to $10.73, Bellevue Gold rose 4.5 percent to $1.16, and Newmont rose 2.83 percent to $125.78.

The energy sector rose 0.78 percent despite the drop in oil prices following the surprise increase in US stocks.

Woodside Energy increased by 1.59 percent to $25.56, Santos increased by 0.47 percent to $6.35, and Karoon Energy increased by 0.33 percent to $1.54.

The financial sector lost 0.07 per cent and was pulled into the red due to NAB’s lackluster results for the full year.

The $131 billion giant fell 3.3 percent to $43.06 after announcing net profit of $6.75 billion, a 3 percent decline from the previous year, and a fixed dividend of 85 cents per share.

“It’s very disappointing for such a valued bank to deliver flat revenue growth, falling profits and flat dividends,” Mr McCarthy said.

While Westpac lost 1.24 percent to $39.71, Commonwealth Bank, one of the heavyweights of the stock market, increased by 1.26 percent to $178.57 and ANZ increased by 0.43 percent to $37.

Thursday’s rally followed a positive lead from Wall St on Wednesday, with all three major indexes rising.

The Dow Jones index increased by 225 points (0.48 percent) to 47,311 points, the S&P 500 index increased by 0.37 percent to 6796.3 points, and the technology-heavy Nasdaq index increased by 0.65 percent to 23,499 points.

In corporate news, gaming company Light and Wonder was the best performer on the benchmark, rising 8.21 percent to $124.85 after reporting a 78 percent jump in quarterly profit to $114 million.

The biggest decliner was the construction materials company James Hardie, falling 12.65 percent to $25.70.

The Australian dollar remained flat, buying US65c at the close.