Australian shares jumped as they opened and the upward momentum continued for the rest of the session. The telco sector was the strongest as Telstra rallied but gains were broad based. Financials and energy stocks also performed strongly.
Positive data out of the U.S. overnight boosted stocks with U.S. exposure, including Westfield and James Hardie.
The S&P/ASX 200 Index closed 110 points higher at 4,650 while on the futures market, the SPI200’s up 114.
In company news around this afternoon : Telstra (ASX:TLS) shares rallied today and recovered most of yesterday’s losses as Macquarie Equities upgraded the stock to outperform from neutral. The report said that the government plans to force a split of Telstra will be a catalyst for significant progress towards a national broadband network deal and shareholders today left behind fears that the news was all bad. Late yesterday Telstra CEO David Thodey said it is committed to working with the Federal Government on its proposed regulatory reform package. Telstra shares gained 4.18% to $3.24 today.
Webjet (ASX:WEB) says its market shares is increasing, driven by extensive marketing activities. Managing director David Clarke said that transaction values have jumped in September and if the current rate continued throughout the month, transaction values would be about 32 per cent higher than last year. August was 28% higher than a year ago. Webjet shares were steady at $1.575.
ASX (ASX:ASX) shares gained as Royal Bank of Scotland raised its rating on the stock to buy from hold.
News Corp (ASX:NWS) said its Wall Street Journal business plans to start charging as much as $US2 per week to read its stories on BlackBerrys and other mobile devices.
Airport owner Macquarie Airports (ASX:MAP) says it has agreed to sell its 35.5 per cent stake in Bristol Airport to Ontario Teachers Pension Plan for $244.3 million.
BHP Billiton (ASX:BHP) CEO Marius Kloppers received a 51 per cent increase in his remuneration package to US$10.39 million for the year to June.
The best performing sector at close was the Telecommunications index as Telstra recovered, up 40 points to 1,129. All the indices were in positive territory today but the worst performing was the Real Estate Investment Trust index; which gained just 7 points to 915.
The best performing stock in the S&P/ ASX200 was Lynas Corp after being the worst performer yesterday and shares jumped 18.8 per cent to 79 cents. Carnarvon Petroleum and Macquarie Media shares also gained.
The worst performing stock was Goodman Group and shares fell 4.13 per cent to 58 cents. Shares in Valad Property declined and Primary Health shares lost ground after the company raised $180 million by selling new shares to pay down some of its debts.
In commodities, gold is trading at $1,016.10 U.S an ounce and since this morning light crude is down 10 cents at $70.83 U.S a barrel.
