Stocks rallied for a second day after China maintained growth targets and data showed the Australian economy gathered momentum last quarter.
At lunchtime the ASX 200 was trading 31 points or 0.6% ahead at 5431 with consumer discretionary stocks +1.3%, financials +0.9% and materials +0.6% leading the way. The index hit a one-week high at 5453 in early trade.
The dollar rallied, recently buying 89.55 US cents, after data showed GDP grew at 0.8% for an annual rate of 2.8% over the last three months of last year. Economists had predicted quarterly growth of 0.6% for an annual rate of 2.5%. Read more here.
"Overall, it's good quality result but not great," UBS interest rate strategist Matthew Johnson told Fairfax. "What you want to see is more domestic activity and that should come through in terms of house building and possibly consumption. We still think rates are on hold this year."
Also helping sentiment was news this morning that China is keeping its growth target for 2014 unchanged from the 2013 target at 7.5%. China's Shanghai Composite edged up 0.03%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng 0.58% and Japan's Nikkei 1.59%. Emini Dow futures were recently off 12 points or less than 0.1%.
Crude oil futures bounced five cents this morning to US$103.35 a barrel. Spot gold was 20 cents lower at US$1,334.80 an ounce.
Solid morning on the market, scrappy at this desk. Wish trading was more like riding a bike. Always takes me several sessions to get back into the groove after a few days off. Probably too anxious to get trades open, so take them too early. Had dabs this morning at ASB, NWH and FMS but none have amounted to much yet.
