Good morning traders. Thanks @ttward, @Ravgnome & the aftermarket loungers. More positive leads overnight and yesterday. But just when things are looking bright, it’s going to be time to take another day off.
ASX Market Report
The Australian share market has surged through the 6300 barrier in the first trading session after the four-day Easter break, finishing at its highest point in eight months on a buoyant energy sector.
The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index finished up 59.6 points, or 0.95 per cent, to 6,319.4 points at 1615 AEST on Tuesday, while the broader All Ordinaries rose 61.2 points, or 0.96 per cent, to 6,411.1.
Pepperstone head of research Chris Weston said the rise, while unexpected, was undoubtedly helped by higher oil prices "It's a difficult one - the moves have blown people away a bit," Mr Weston said. "While 0.9 per cent (as a whole), it's not breathtaking stuff, but we certainly hadn't been positioned for this situation."
Consumer discretionaries, the banks, and tech sectors all rose more than one per cent while energy stocks jumped 2.5 per cent after oil prices soared on the United States' announcement it would take more steps to choke off Iranian oil exports. Mr Weston said it was a "dangerous game" for US President Donald Trump to allow oil prices to move higher in the short term, with the hope Saudi Arabia increases their supply. "Trump has made it clear he is a low oil man... and if you take Iran out of the game, someone has to fill their boots," Mr Weston said. "But the elastic band might be being pulled a bit too far here - we've seen the supply response but where's the demand?"
Santos rose 3.05 per cent to $7.44, while Woodside Petroleum, Caltex, Oil Search and Origin Energy gained 2.55, 1.64, 1.74 and 3.42 per cent respectively.
Wesfarmers, Breville Group, Domino's Pizza, Aristocrat Leisure and Tabcorp Holdings helped lift the consumer discretionary sector 1.93 per cent as a whole, while utilities and tech stocks were the next strongest.
The ASX tech sector as a whole was up 1.48 per cent, with EML soaring 13.79 per cent after it signed a deal with gambling giant bet365.
The heavyweight financial sector gained momentum through the morning to finish 1.05 per cent higher. Westpac was the best performer of the big four banks, up 1.23 per cent to $27.16.
The Aussie dollar slipped as the day wore on, and was buying 71.19 US cents from 71.36 US cents on Monday.
Meanwhile, analysts expect lacklustre first-quarter inflation data to further test the Reserve Bank's resolve on Wednesday as domestic demand softens, though an immediate rate cut remains unlikely after strong job figures last week.
ON THE ASX:
* The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was up 59.6 points, or 0.95 per cent, to 6,319.4 points at 1615 AEDT on Monday.
* The All Ordinaries was up 61.2 points, or 0.96 per cent, to 6,411.1.
* At 1630 AEDT, the SPI200 futures index was up 39 points, or 0.62 per cent, to 6,309.0.
CURRENCY SNAPSHOT AT 1630 AEDT:
One Australian dollar buys:
* 71.19 US cents, from 71.36 on Monday
* 79.65 Japanese yen, from 79.87
* 63.30 euro cents, from 63.60
* 54.84 British pence, from 54.97
* 106.84 NZ cents, from 106.84
Global Markets Report
Global equity markets rallied on Tuesday as the U.S. Nasdaq and S&P 500 stock indexes marched toward record highs, while European energy shares posted their biggest daily gain since January as crude prices surged.
Wall Street soared on upbeat results from Coca-Cola, Twitter, United Technologies and Lockheed Martin, which eased fears of a profit recession in a busy week for U.S. corporate earnings.
European shares rebounded from early weakness, pushing the STOXX 600 index to eight-month highs at the close. The energy-heavy FTSE 100 in London led regional gains, up 0.85 percent at a more than six-month high. European oil and gas shares jumped 2%, with BP Plc and Royal Dutch Shell Plc leading gains in London, while the FTSEurofirst 300 Index <.FTEU3) of leading European shares hit eight-month highs.
The S&P and Nasdaq indexes breached their record closing highs during the session. The benchmark S&P 500 has surged about 17% this year, helped by a largely upbeat earnings season, hopes of a U.S.-China trade resolution and a dovish Federal Reserve. The government shutdown earlier this year weakened the U.S. economy and corporate growth but since March companies have done extraordinarily well and growth continues strong, said George Boyan, president of Leumi Investment Services in New York. “We remain overweight (in equities) and any type of pullback we would view as an opportunity to add equity exposure,” Boyan said. “We’ve enjoyed quite a run but there’s nothing to cause me to want to take off exposure at this point.”
Twitter surged 15.7%, its biggest single-day jump since October 2017, after posting better-than-expected quarterly revenue and a surprising rise in monthly active users. Lockheed Martin posted better-than-expected quarterly profit as U.S. President Donald Trump’s looser policies on foreign arms sales boosted demand for missiles and fighter jets. Shares rose 5.8%. News that the United States told buyers of Iranian oil to stop purchases by May 1 or face sanctions lifted Brent, the global benchmark, and made for a lively return from a four-day Easter break for European markets.
Rising crude prices are a bullish sign of a stable economy and consumer, Boyan said. If prices rise much further it could speed the pace of inflation and cause the Fed to engage in more tightening, “but I don’t think we’re there yet,” he said.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 145.41 points, or 0.55%, to 26,656.46, the S&P 500 gained 25.69 points, or 0.88%, to 2,933.66 and the Nasdaq Composite added 105.56 points, or 1.32%, to 8,120.82. MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe gained 0.55%.
The dollar climbed across the board as traders favored the greenback ahead of Friday’s release of U.S. gross domestic product for the first three months of 2019. The dollar was supported by data that showed sales of new U.S. single-family homes jumped to a near 1-1/2-year high in March. The data followed recent upbeat news on retail sales and exports, which have eased concerns of a sharply slowing U.S. economy, analysts said.
The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six currencies, rose 0.38% after hitting its highest since June 2017. The euro fell 0.4% against the dollar, slipping below $1.12 for the first time in nearly three weeks. The Japanese yen fell 0.01% versus the greenback at 111.82 per dollar.
Oil prices hit their highest since November. Brent crude futures rose as high as $74.73, a level not seen since Nov. 1, before paring gains. Brent futures settled up 47 cents to $74.51 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures rose 75 cents to settle at $66.30 a barrel.
In China, major benchmarks had dipped in and out of negative territory on concern that Beijing will slow the pace of policy easing after unexpectedly strong first-quarter economic data last week. China’s blue-chip stocks have surged over 30 percent so far this year on expectations of more stimulus and hopes Beijing and Washington will reach an agreement to end their nine-month trade dispute.
U.S. gold futures settled 0.3 percent lower at $1,273.20 an ounce.
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Not quite Anzac day yet, but for tomorrow.
