Close Australian shares edged higher today, with initial investor enthusiasm over the Irish bailout and QR National's debut on the sharemarket fading during the afternoon.
At the close, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was up 14.3 points, or 0.3 per cent, at 4643.5, after earlier rising as high as 4672. The broader All Ordinaries index rose 14.1 points, or 0.3 per cent, to 4731.8.
Energy shares rose 0.7 per cent, materials gained 0.4 per cent and financials added 0.2 per cent.
"It's very quiet, still wait and see," said Tony Russell, senior equities adviser at RBS Morgans.
need2know:
- The dollar climbs to 99.24 US cents
- Asian shares rise on Irish bailout
- Oil inches up to $US82.40 a barrel
- Gold rebounds to $US1358 an ounce
- Dow futures are flat at 11,179
Shares in QR National closed at $2.65, almost 4 per cent higher than the $2.55 issue price at their debut on the Australian sharemarket. The $4.6 billion raising is the country's second largest, eclipsed only by the Telstra floats.
RBS Morgans client advisor Bill Bishop said it was a positive for the market to see a large float like QR get away well.
‘‘The market is demonstrating the confidence it has in itself,’’ he said. ‘‘QR is the biggest float since Telstra and it is good to see big things like that having some success.’’
Shares in the rail and freight operator closed at $2.65, after opening at $2.54 a share.
‘‘Despite all the naysayers, at the end of the day it (QR) is a triump for everyone involved.
‘‘They will be very happy with tonight’s result I think.’’
RBS Morgan was one of the joint lead managers on QR National.
Banks close mixed
Shares in the major banks were mixed, with Westpac gaining 10 cents to $21.72, while Commonwealth ended down 8 cents at $48.73. National Australia Bank also ended the day in the red, down 7 cents to $24.00, while ANZ lost 1 cent to $22.48.
The major miners performed well, with BHP gaining 27 cents, or 0.6 per cent, to $43.88 and Rio Tinto climbing 42 cents, or 0.5 per cent, to $84.72.
Mr Bishop said the market had responded positively to news of a massive international bailout for debt-ravaged Ireland.
The bailout could reach between 80 billion and 90 billion euros ($111 billion and $125.3 billion), diplomatic sources have said.
‘‘At least the Irish aren’t going to go down the toilet overnight, so the market is mildly happy about that.’’
Capital markets had feared the possibility of the Irish government defaulting on its sovereign debt.
Westfield sells London mall stake
In other news, Westfield Group will sell half its interest in the retail component of the property group’s Stratford City centre in the UK for 871.5 million pounds. Shares in Westfield gained 33 cents, or 2.8 per cent, to $12.15.
Among the local retailers, Woolworths fell 42 cents, or 1.5 per cent, to $27.16 and Wesfarmers lost 8 cents to $33.07.
Oil and gas explorers Beach Energy and Impress Energy say they will merge to accelerate the development of their assets in South Australia’s Cooper Basin. Beach Energy gained 0.5 cents to 66.5 cents, while Impress was 1.1 cents higher, or 16.2 per cent, at 7.9 cents.
Newcrest Mining shares fell 24 cents to $39.90.
Market turnover was a total of 2.9 billion shares changing hands for $5.425 billion, with 551 shares up, 531 shares down and 389 unchanged.
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BusinessDay, with AAP, Reuters