from AFR - May be a good day for miners on Monday
”Australian shares are poised to rally on Monday following a surge in commodity prices as traders lifted bets on a new resources boom, amid speculation China may move to ease travel and other COVID-19 related restrictions.The weekend’s dramatic resources price rally sent the Australian dollar 2.8 per cent higher to buy US64.7¢ and is set to push local shares 1.3 per cent higher on Monday morning, as investors prep for a busy week punctuated by bank earnings, US inflation data, and the US midterm elections.
On Saturday, US oil futures jumped 5 per cent for their third straight week of gains to reach their highest level since August.
Iron ore soared 5.1 per cent, copper lifted 8 per cent, gold 3.4 per cent, and silver 7.6 per cent across a bullish session that traders put down to the US dollar’s retreat against most major currencies and hope Beijing will loosen COVID-19 restrictions.
The broad gains for materials sparked a buying frenzy among the miners, as BHP Group rocketed 9.8 per cent in New York on Friday, and Rio Tinto added 3.9 per cent in London.
“There’s a shift from the new economy to the old economy in terms of asset allocation, that’s pretty clear,” said Ben Cleary, global natural resources portfolio manager at Tribeca Investment Partners.
“That move on Friday was a big move, not a move we’ve seen for more than a decade,” Mr Cleary said. “[On China] there seems to be a different headline every day, but the reality is it’ll reopen at some stage, and they’re seemingly in the early stages of making [Western vaccines] available for certain groups, including expats.”
Elsewhere on Friday, US copper mining giant Freeport climbed 11.5 per cent. The world’s largest lithium producer Albermale jumped 3.8 per cent, and US gold miner Barrick Gold surged 8.4 per cent.
