Stocks marched higher this morning as a key economic indicator pointed to a sharp acceleration in growth next year.
At lunchtime the ASX 200 was up 28 points or 0.6% at 4758 and on track for its highest close since late October. The mining sector continued to drive gains, climbing 1.2% this morning. The materials sector added 1.1%, gold 1.9% and financials 0.8%.
Sentiment was bolstered by the Westpac-Melbourne Institute leading index, which rose 5.8% in September - well above the long-term trend of 3.1%. "This read represents an extraordinary pace of recovery," Westpac chief economist Bill Evans said. "The sharp recovery in the leading index's growth rate supports our view that the Australian economy is moving into a stronger growth trajectory in 2010."
In other economic news, hourly rates of pay rose 0.7% last quarter, seasonally adjusted, according to the ABS. The wage price index rose 3.6% year on year.
Asian markets were little changed. Japan's Nikkei recently slipped 0.04% into the red and South Korea's Kospi was up 0.3%. Dow futures were mildly positive at +9.
Crude oil futures continued to recover, adding 40 cents this morning and recently trading at $79.62 a barrel. The spot gold price slipped $3 to $1,138.10 an ounce.
A nice morning here. Scalped AVB and MMX off their lows. Grabbed some AMC at 5.54. More importantly, VIL is bouncing back from its spud-delay sell-off even faster than anticipated. I'm holding but regret not really loading up at yesterday's low as a run at the old high now looks likely.
