SYDNEY: Australian shares rose 0.6 percent on Thursday as miners like Rio Tinto were boosted by a rise in copper prices to a two-week high on signs of increased buying from China.
Rio shares were up 2.8 percent at A$69.35, a one-month high, ahead of its quarterly production results due later on Thursday.
Data showed Australian employment rose by a surprisingly strong 20,400 in September while the jobless rate dipped back to 5.2 percent, sending the local dollar sharply higher as investors scaled back expectations for early rate cuts.
"It's the best employment report we've had in a while and a lot better than the market expected," said Brian Redican, senior economist at Macquarie.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index was up 25.2 points at 4,229.3 by 0115 GMT.
The index, which fell 0.6 percent on Wednesday, had reached a 5-week high of 4,256.1 in earlier trade, before the strong jobs data dented expectations for rate cuts.
New Zealand's benchmark NZX 50 index fell 0.5 percent to 3,307.8.
STOCKS ON THE MOVE:
Mineral sands producer Iluka Resources rallied 6 percent to A$16.43 after its quarterly production rose almost 10 percent.
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Miner PanAust was up 0.9 percent at A$43.14 after it said it expected annual earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation in the range of $280-305 million.
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Bank of Queensland was up 0.3 percent at A$8.02 after it said profit before one-off items fell 10 percent but forecast a fall in bad debts for fiscal 2012.
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AMP Ltd, Australia's top wealth manager, gained 1.2 percent to A$4.16. It named Deputy Chief Financial Officer Colin Storrie as its new CFO to replace Paul Leaming, who retires at the end of the year after 14 years at AMP.
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Virgin Australia rose 2.2 percent to A$0.32 after the Australian competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) said it plans to approve a network alliance with Singapore Airlines.
Under the alliance, the airlines will cooperate on all aspects of their Australia-Singapore services and any international and domestic connecting routes, including joint pricing and scheduling and joint marketing and sales.
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