The Australian sharemarket advanced on Thursday, buoyed by a sharp rally in commodity stocks amid a higher oil price and as gold surged to a record.
The S&P/ASX 200 Index rose 0.8 per cent, or by 60.6 points, to 7819.1 at the closing bell, with 10 out of the 11 sectors in the green. The benchmark notched a weekly gain of 2.3 per cent. The All Ordinaries added 0.8 per cent.
IG analyst Tony Sycamore attributed Thursday’s gains to “thin volumes” on the sharemarket as investors prepared for the Easter long weekend, and a “solid” employment data for March.
Energy was the best-performing sector on the ASX, rallying 3.8 per cent after new US sanctions on Iranian oil exports lifted Brent crude to $US66 a barrel.
Woodside shares added 3.9 per cent to $20.07, Karoon rose 7.6 per cent to $1.34, and Ampol jumped 7.7 per cent to $22.24. Santos rallied 2.9 per cent to $5.65 after it recorded an increase in its production to 21.9 million barrels of oil equivalent per day.
ASX gold producers also recorded large gains as the precious metal reset a record, bolstered by its safe haven status amid the uncertainty surrounding US President Donald Trump’s erratic trade agenda.
Bellevue Gold rose 1.6 per cent to 98¢, Evolution Mining 1.7 per cent to $8.46 and Northern Star Resources 1.2 per cent to $22.35.
Bullion gained as much as 2.7 per cent on Wednesday to climb above $US3300 an ounce for the first time, surpassing the previous record set on Monday.
In Australia, the latest data showed employment increased by 32,200 in March, following a drop of 52,800 the previous month. The unemployment rate held at 4.1 per cent. The robust data prompted money markets to dial back expectations of a jumbo half a percentage point rate cut in May.
Stocks on the move
Wealth giant Challenger rocketed 10.2 per cent to $6.80 after it narrowed its full year normalised net profit guidance to between $450 million and $465 million in its third quarter trading update. The company previously pencilled in a range of $440 million to $480 million.
AMP rallied 3.2 per cent to $1.145 after its platforms business recorded an increase in net cash flows to $740 million, according to the company’s latest quarterly update. Assets under management for the platform business still shrank by $1 billion to $78.8 billion amid the market volatility.
BHP shipped a weaker-than-expected volume of Australian iron ore over the past three months, but it was still better than two of the previous four years when weather disruptions were less severe. The shares rose 1.1 per cent to $36.48.
Insignia Financial added 3.3 per cent to $3.72 after the company extended the due diligence period for its private equity suitors, Bain Capital and CC Capital, by another four weeks at their request.
Pilbara jumped 4.4 per cent to $1.43 after falling earlier in the session. The miner blamed the impact of a severe tropical cyclone and the mothballing of one of its plants for a drop in production and revenues.
And, Star Entertainment plunged 9.1 per cent to 10¢ and was the worst performing stock on the ASX 200. The embattled casino operator resumed trading on Wednesday.