Australian share prices rose 1.04 percent on Monday, following US and regional markets higher and boosted by strong Japanese growth figures, dealers said. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 gained 48.8 points to 4,755.2 while the broader All Ordinaries closed up 51.2 points or 1.08 percent at 4,773.8. Trade was light as investors await key US retail sales data which will be announced later, dealers said.
"Their economy has to be seen to be improving or continuing to be improving for us to be confident at the end of the day," Lucinda Chan of Macquarie Private Wealth told Dow Jones Newswires. Banking stocks fell as investors shifted to insurance following AMP's move for AXA Asia-Pacific, according to dealers.
Commonwealth Bank fell 0.7 percent to 53.96 dollars, National Australia Bank was down 1.4 percent to 28.50, Westpac Bank lost 2.1 percent to 25.29 and ANZ dropped 1.3 percent to 22.18. BHP Billiton rose 2.8 percent to 1.09 and fellow mining giant Rio Tinto was up 4.8 percent to 72.88 on higher base metals prices. Lihir Gold climbed 4.2 percent at 3.50, Newmont gained 3.2 percent to 5.50 and Newcrest rose 2.4 percent to 35.40, after gold hit an all-time high of 1,123.38 dollars per ounce in London on Thursday.
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