Shares hit their highest level of the month after US jobs data boosted risk appetite across the Asia-Pacific.
The ASX 200 rallied 48 points or 0.8% to regain the 6000 level, lately sitting at 6011 after rising as high as 6026. Energy stocks improved 1.7%, metals & mining 1.6% and financials 0.8%. The gold sector slipped 1.5%.
Regional markets gapped higher after Friday's 'Goldilocks' US monthly employment report soothed concerns that the pace of interest rate increases in the US will accelerate sharply this year. Hong Kong's Hang Seng surged 1.28%, Japan's Nikkei 1.81% and China's Shanghai Composite 0.23%.
The S&P 500 jumped 1.74% on Friday as the US economy created 313,000 new jobs, but wages increased less than economists expected. S&P 500 futures were recently ahead 8.2 points or 0.3%.
"Fears of four rate hikes from the Fed this year have receded while risk sentiment is back firmly in the ascendancy — for now at least," Ray Attrill, head of FX strategy at National Australia Bank, told CNBC.
Crude oil futures advanced 24 cents or 0.39% this morning to US$62.28 a barrel. Gold futures dipped 50 cents or 0.04% to US$1,323.50 an ounce. The dollar was buying 78.62 US cents.
Quick bit of house-keeping: my phone line/internet is down, which meant plugging a mobile phone into the PC as a mobile hotspot this morning. Seems to be working okay, but I'm expecting a Telstra technician sometime this week (probably Wednesday), so if I don't appear one lunchtime, that's what's going on. Someone else please step up. Trading: scraped a part-wage from ASN but hoped for more of a rebound.
