Close The Australian stockmarket posted strong gains today, buoyed by a surge in jobs numbers and led by gains in National Australia Bank after the competition regulator blocked the bank's bid for AXA Asia Pacific.
At the close, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was up 45 points, or 1 per cent, at 4582.2, while the broader All Ordinaries index had risen 43 points, or 0.9 per cent, to 4621.3.
Among the major sectors, financials rose 1.4 per cent and materials gained 1.1 per cent. However, energy shares slipped 0.4 per cent and telcos were down 1.4 per cent
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- Europe shares turn positive in early trade
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The market opened firmer, broadly in line with the rally on Wall Street during the offshore session, and extended gains during the morning session.
Bell Financial Group senior adviser Chris Kimber said the local market has been growing in confidence as the US looks less likely to fall into double-dip recession.
‘‘As long as we keep seeing that the US is going in the same direction and not doing the double-dip, most of our industry leaders seem pretty comfortable that’s not going to happen ... we’ll get more and more confident (and) then we’ll get to the upside,’’ Mr Kimber said.
Market indices also reacted positively to the latest jobs figures, which showed Australia’s unemployment rate was 5.1 per cent in August, beating market expectations.
NAB investors cheer ACCC decision
Making news, the competition regulator ACCC said it continued to object to the proposed tie-up between National Australia Bank and AXA Asia Pacific.
The announcement sent AXA's shares tumbling more than 10 per cent in early trade, before closing down 36 cents, or 6.6 per cent, at $5.08, their lowest since NAB launched its bid last November. AXA's price has been dropping in recent days as the market bet that the deal could be rejected.
NAB's shares, meanwhile, rose the most in three months, gaining 89 cents, or 3.7 per cent, to $24.84, while AMP shares ended the day flat at $5.04.
"(NAB) investors were less certain about the short-term value of the deal so they might be modestly happy on that basis. It removes the prospect of some sort of capital raising," said Rohan Walsh, investment manager at Karara Capital.
Commonwealth Bank rose 71 cents to $52.49, Westpac added 28 cents to $22.98 and ANZ was 27 cents higher at $23.76.
Santos slumps on stake sale
In the energy sector, Santos said it would sell 15 per cent of its $7.7 billion Gladstone liquefied natural gas project to the world’s fourth-largest listed natural gas producer Total for $650 million.
Santos lost 96 cents, or 7 per cent, at $12.79, while among other oil and gas companies Woodside Petroleum rose 22 cents to $42.92 and Oil Search was 6 cents stronger at $5.96.
The two big miners finished the day in the black, with BHP Billiton up 27 cents at $38.18 and Rio Tinto gaining 46 cents at $73.90.
Virgin Blue expansion hits snag
In other news, Virgin Blue’s international expansion plans struck turbulence after US regulators knocked back the airline’s proposed alliance with Delta Air Lines on trans-Pacific routes in a preliminary ruling. Virgin Blue ended the day 1.5 cents lower at 43 cents.
Gold miner Newcrest Mining rose 97 cents, or 2.5 per cent, to $39.77.
The top-traded stock by volume was Baraka Petroleum, with 129.5 million shares worth $650,916 changing hands. Baraka Petroleum shares rose 0.1 cents, or 25 per cent to 0.5 cents.
Preliminary national turnover was 2.42 billion shares worth $5.5 billion, with 700 stocks up, 346 down and 354 unchanged.
"The sense of doom and gloom that was around a couple of weeks ago seems to have given way to a bit more optimism lately. Australian data has been very strong which in turn should underpin pretty good profit growth for Australian companies going forward," said Shane Oliver, head of investment strategy at AMP Capital Investors.
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AAP, with BusinessDay
