Australian shares notched a record closing high on Thursday, tracking a similar trend on Wall Street, as financials continued their bullish run, with “Big Four” banks gaining between 1.3% and 2.6%.
The S&P/ASX 200 index climbed 0.9% to an all-time closing high of 8355.9 points.
The benchmark had closed down 0.4% on Wednesday. Overnight, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at a record high for the third time in four sessions and Wall Street’s two other benchmark indexes also ended higher, as major banks were buoyed by strong earnings.
In Australia, the financials rose 1.7%, rising for the ninth time in the last ten sessions.
“Australian investors hold the banks forever and they love the dividends and we’re just heading into a bank reporting season,” said Henry Jennings, senior analyst and portfolio manager at Marcus Today.
“The economy is relatively pretty strong (so) there is no real reason to sell the banks at the moment.”
Meanwhile, the local jobs data for September indicated that the labour market remains tight, resulting in reduced bets of a rate cut by the Reserve Bank of Australia this year.
Markets pared the chances of a first interest rate cut in December to 30% from 46% before the data.
In Sydney, heavyweight miners fell 0.5% as prices of iron ore futures dropped to their lowest in more than two weeks.
Mining behemoths Fortescue and Rio Tinto fell 2.7% and 1.8%, respectively.
Australian shares slip from record high; Rio Tinto drops
The world’s largest listed miner was down 1.3%, despite reporting a beat in its first-quarter iron ore output.
Energy stocks climbed 0.5% after oil prices rose in early Asian trade and gold stocks jumped 2.2% as bullion prices hovered near record highs. In New Zealand, the benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index rose 1% to finish the session at 12768.54.
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