Australian shares advanced for a third straight week this month, and were set to be one of Asia's top performing indexes in 2019 amid the Sino-US trade war and sluggish domestic economic growth. The S&P/ASX 200 index ended 0.4 percent higher at 6,821.7 on Friday in a holiday-shortened week amid thin-trade, and is set to climb 20.8 percent this year.
Early jumps in iron ore and gold prices helped lift the resources sector, with gold stocks among the biggest gainers. Global miners BHP Group and Rio Tinto added 1.1 percent and 0.5 percent, respectively. Elsewhere, Zip Co Ltd climbed 4.5 percent after Amazon said shopping in this holiday season was at record levels. Zip is one of the several payment options offered on Amazon Australia.
In the M&A space, nickel miner Independence Group said it would allow its takeover offer for Panoramic Resources to lapse, sending its shares 4.8 percent higher, as several offer conditions it laid out were breached.
Panoramic, however, slumped 21 percent. In New Zealand, the benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index closed 0.4 percent lower at 11,602.12. It is set to end the year higher for an eighth straight time, rising nearly 32 percent. The year has seen the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) slash rates to record lows in the hopes of stimulating consumer spending and support the stuttering economy.
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