Australian shares jumped to a one-month high on Thursday, led by technology and mining stocks, as global markets advanced after the US Federal Reserve raised interest rates as expected.
The S&P/ASX 200 index advanced as much as 1.7% to 7,296.80, hitting its highest since Feb. 17, and extending gains after Wednesday’s 1.1% jump.
The Fed announced a quarter percentage point increase in the overnight federal funds rate, lifting that key benchmark from its near-zero level, and laid out an aggressive plan for further increases to combat inflation.
Hawkish shifts by the central banks in China and Europe, and now the Fed, add to the risk of an earlier start to a Reserve Bank of Australia lift-off well before its implied 2023 central scenario, RBC analysts said in a note.
In Australia, tech stocks surged as much as 5.8%, tracking their US peers. Block Inc’s Australian shares jumped 10.8% and WiseTech Global added 6.2%.
Miners advanced nearly 2% on robust iron ore prices, with heavyweights BHP Group, Fortescue Metals and Rio Tinto up between 1.3% and 4.3%.
Financials leapt 1.6%, with the ‘big four banks’ rising between 0.6% and 1.5%, while healthcare stocks climbed 0.71%, with CSL up 0.6%.
Bullion prices were steady, helping gold miners rise nearly 1%.
Newcrest Mining, the country’s largest gold miner, was almost flat.
Energy stocks slipped 0.2%, weighed down by a dip in oil prices.
Heavyweights Woodside Petroleum and Santos dropped nearly 1% each . In other news, Australian employment sped past expectations in February as activity recovered surprisingly quickly from an Omicron outbreak, driving unemployment down to lows not seen since 2008 and adding to pressure for an early rate hike.
New Zealand’s benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index gained 1.5% to 12,050.95 after data showed gross domestic product rose 3% in the fourth quarter.
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