Wednesday, 04 January 2012 10:50
Posted by Shoaib-ur-Rehman Siddiqui
MELBOURNE: Australian shares rallied 2.4 percent on Wednesday as top miner BHP Billiton shot to a three-week high after an encouraging pickup in manufacturing in the United States and China boosted metal prices.
London copper and spot gold prices both rallied 2.5 percent, sending BHP stock up 4 percent to its highest since Dec. 12, and Rio Tinto up 3.2 percent.
Top banks also gained, led by a 1.8 percent rise for Westpac Banking Corp.
US manufacturing ...
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SYDNEY: Australian shares rose 0.4 percent in morning trade on Friday, helped by easing worries over Europe's debt crisis after bond auctions fared better than the market expected, with the materials sector leading gains on firm base metal prices.
"It's a mixture of news, on the one hand the good news is that people are looking at more positive developments out of Europe," said Damien Boey, equity strategist Credit Suisse.
"Particularly with the ECB declaring that they ...
MELBOURNE: Australian shares finished 1.1 percent higher on Tuesday as investors focussed on the increasing evidence of a US recovery with no fresh bad news from Europe.
The local market played catch-up with US gains after slipping on Monday, helped by a positive outlook for metal demand from top US aluminium producer Alcoa Inc that defied gloom among its peers.
"It has the feel of a bit of strength to it," said Prasad Patkar, a portfolio manager ...
