Australian shares climbed in a broad-based rally on Friday, tracking strong gains on Wall Street overnight after robust US retail sales data allayed worries about an imminent recession in the world’s largest economy.
The S&P/ASX 200 index rose 1.3% to 7,968.6 by 0103 GMT. The benchmark was up for a sixth straight session and was on track to post its best weekly gain since December.
Data showed that US retail sales increased 1.0%, well above market forecasts, easing fears of a sharp economic slowdown, fanned by a jump in the unemployment rate last week.
Overnight, the US Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.39% at 40,563.06.
The S&P 500 gained 1.61%, while Nasdaq gained 2.34%.
Traders pared back bets the Federal Reserve would be forced into aggressive easing next month. Meanwhile, Australia’s central banker said it was premature to be thinking about rate cuts, adding underlying inflation was too high.
In Sydney, heavyweight miners rose 2.1% to lead gains, after Chinese iron ore futures on the Dalian Commodity Exchange rose 0.8%.
Banking stocks added 1.4%.
The country’s top business lender National Australia Bank reported a drop in its third quarter cash earnings, but credit impairment charge came in lower-than-expected.
The stock rose 1.2%.
Australian shares edge higher as banks advance
Energy stocks were up 2%.
Brent crude futures fell 0.15%, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude lost 0.23%, but both were set for weekly gains.
Tech, gold and healthcare sub-indexes advanced between 0.9% and 1.7%.
Among individual stocks, bourse operator ASX Ltd dropped as much as 3.3% after its annual underlying profit slipped roughly 3% and missed market estimates.
New Zealand’s benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index rose 0.3% to 12,745.43.
Synlait Milk and its shareholder a2 Milk resolved disputes over exclusive manufacturing rights. a2 shares jumped over 4%, while Synlait rose 15%.
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