Soaring commodity prices continued to take centre stage on the ASX200 throughout the day, steering the benchmark index in positive territory to close on a high note.
As a result, miners and energy players were the biggest benefactors to the broader market, securing the top two positions as the best performing sectors of the day. Property and Industrials travelled in the opposite direction, undermining some of the broader gains. These losses were not enough to obstruct the Australian sharemarket’s advance to a third consecutive close in the black.
Banks also chipped in for the rally party, as NAB (ASX:NA), Westpac
(ASX:WBC) and ANZ
(ASX:ANZ) edged higher.
The day was characterised with several record-high performances, as Commonwealth continued to reset its all-time highs to reach $98.84 and Champion Iron notched a record high of $7.53.
At the closing bell, the S&P/ASX 200 was 0.60 per cent or 42.40 points higher at 7066.00.
FuturesThe Dow Jones futures are pointing to a rise of 123.00 points.
The S&P 500 futures are pointing to a rise of 14.50 points.
The Nasdaq futures are pointing to a rise of 79.00 points.
The SPI futures are pointing to a rise of 43 points when the market next opens.
Best and worst performersThe best-performing sector was Energy, up 1.63 per cent. The worst-performing sector was Real Estate Investment Trusts, down 0.71 per cent.
The best-performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 was Nuix
(ASX:NXL), closing 11.46 per cent higher at $3.50. It was followed by shares in Pilbara Minerals
(ASX:PLS) and OZ Minerals
(ASX:OZL).
The worst-performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 was St Barbara
(ASX:SBM), closing 9.02 per cent lower at $1.86. It was followed by shares in Monadelphous Group
(ASX:MND) and James Hardie Industries
(ASX:JHX).
Asian marketsJapan's Nikkei has gained 2.16%.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng has gained 1.24%.
China's Shanghai Composite has gained 0.10%.
Commodities and the dollarGold is trading at US$1871.00 an ounce.
Iron ore is 4.30 per cent higher at US$217.77 a ton.
Iron ore futures are pointing to a rise of 3.73 per cent.
Light crude is trading $0.19 higher at US$64.34 a barrel.
One Australian dollar is buying 77.98 US cents.
