The Australian share market closed near session highs, up 1.6 per cent. Miners led the gains and an Aussie dollar nudging parity saw interest from offshore.
The S&P/ASX 200 Index is 79 points higher to finish at 4,699. On the futures market, the SPI200 is up 74 points.
In economic news: Housing Industry Association RP Data residential land report showed land sales in the country’s capital cities dropped 3.6 per cent in the June quarter. The most expensive city to purchase land in Australia remained Sydney, followed by the Sunshine Coast.
To company news: Rio Tinto Ltd (ASX:RIO) has reported record iron ore, alumina and coking coal production in the September quarter and says it continues to run operations at close to or above capacity. The global miner increased iron ore production in the quarter to 47.61 million tonnes, alumina rose to 2.34 million tonnes and coking coal was also up from the quarter before to 2.43 million tonnes. Looking ahead at its full year guidance Rio says it expects iron ore production to hit around 234 million tonnes. Shares in Rio Tinto closed 4.4% up at $82.08.
Andrew Forrest’s Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (ASX:FMG) has recorded a 9 per cent fall in iron ore shipments for the three months to 30 September, the result above its guidance for the period. In the quarter Fortescue shipped 10.08 million tonnes of iron ore, under the 11.04 million tonnes achieved the quarter before but higher than guidance of 9.5 million tonnes. The miner says it was impacted by scheduled maintenance at the port and the mine’s ore processing facility. Shares in Fortescue Metals Group closed 1.27% up at $6.38.
Ivanhoe Australia Ltd (ASX:IVA) has applied to list on Canada’s Toronto Stock Exchange, in addition to its local listing, the miner says to enhance access to international mining investors.
Oil and gas producer Tap Oil Ltd (ASX:TAP) has announced that it will raise up to $82 million to buy a 75 per cent stake in Northern Gulf Petroleum Pte Ltd.
Minerals explorer Rex Minerals Ltd (ASX:RXM) has raised $85 million to accelerate exploration at its Hillside copper discovery in South Australia.
Bank of Queensland Ltd (ASX:BOQ) has improved its full year result by 27 per cent to post a net profit of $179.6 million and says it expects higher growth in the future.
In the best and worst performers: The best performing sector at close was Materials with the index up 340 points to 13,321. The worst performing sector was Health Care with the index closing down 37 points to 8,041.
The best performing stock in the S&P/ ASX200 was Aquarius Platinum shares were 8.26% higher at $6.42. Shares in Kagara and St Barbara also closed higher. The worst performing stock was Emeco Holdings shares dropping 4.02% to $0.835. Shares in Resmed and PanAust also closed weaker today.
In commodities, gold is trading at $1379 US an ounce. And light crude is up $0.76 at $83.77 US a barrel.
