SYDNEY: Australian shares closed higher on Thursday as investors hoped for further stimulus measures to counter the effects of the latest coronavirus-led restrictions, while a drop in power companies dragged the New Zealand market lower.
The S&P/ASX 200 index was 0.6% higher at 5,955.5 points at the end of trade.
In New Zealand, the benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index registered its worst session in three and a half months, closing 2.3% lower. Rio Tinto said on Thursday it will close its New Zealand aluminium smelters venture, citing high costs and a challenging market, putting over a thousand jobs on the line and dealing a blow to the country's top power producers.
The closure will very likely cause a power oversupply and hurt power companies, and on the NZ bourse shares of electricity providers like Meridian Energy and Contact Energy plummeted 10.8% and 14% respectively. Back in Australia, energy stocks jumped over 2% after oil prices advanced overnight on signs of a recovery in US gasoline consumption.
Oil and gas explorers Santos and Woodside Petroleum soared 4.1% and 3.5% higher, respectively.
The subindex for tech stocks closed over 3% higher, tracking their peers on Wall Street. Mining stocks rose about 2%, with global miners BHP Group and Rio Tinto gaining 2% and 3.3%, respectively, helped by higher iron ore prices as the outlook for steel demand improved.
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