The Australian sharemarket rallied in the afternoon, finishing Friday’s session on a positive note after a plummeted week. All sectors closed higher with consumer staples and consumer discretionary going above 3 per cent, while energy gained the least.
In the consumer space, supermarket giants Coles
(ASX:COL) and Woolworths
(ASX:WOW) lifted 5.3 and 3.7 per cent higher respectively. Wesfarmers
(ASX:WES) also rose 4.1 per cent.
Imugene
(ASX:IMU) jumped 10.5 per cent as the best-performing stock after the company made two announcements today regarding its HER-Vaxx vaccine, which targets gastric cancer, and its PD1-Vaxx vaccine, which targets lung cancer. Meanwhile, CSL
(ASX:CSL) added 3.2 per cent, while ResMed
(ASX:RMD) fell 1.3 per cent despite reporting a 12 per cent increase in revenue in the December quarter.
Major banks had a good run, Macquarie
(ASX:MQG) rose 4 per cent, Westpac
(ASX:WBC) added 2.3 per cent higher, Commonwealth
(ASX:CBA) was up 2 per cent, National Australia Bank
(ASX:NAB) lifted 1.5 per cent and ANZ
(ASX:ANZ) closed 1.5 per cent higher.
Heavyweight miners Rio Tinto
(ASX:RIO) and BHP
(ASX:BHP) closed 4 and 2.7 per cent higher respectively, while Fortescue Metals
(ASX:FMG) closed 0.2 per cent lower.
Meanwhile gold stocks declined with Newcrest Mining
(ASX:NCM) down 6.4 per cent despite its December quarter update, in which the company said it is on track to deliver on FY22 guidance. Northern Star
(ASX:NST) fell 1.3 per cent and Evolution Mining
(ASX:EVN) closed 0.3 per cent lower .
Energy stocks were steady as Woodside Petroleum
(ASX:WPL) and Beach Energy
(ASX:BPT) both closed 0.4 per cent higher, while Santos
(ASX:STO) closed 1 per cent higher.
Elsewhere, PointsBet
(ASX:PBH) made a comeback in the afternoon, closing 0.6 per cent higher after a December quarter update that outlined an operating loss of $51.8 million.
At the closing bell, the S&P/ASX 200 was 2.2 per cent or 150 points higher at 6,988. Over the week, it closed 2.7 per cent or 188 points lower.
Local economic news The Australian Bureau of Statistics released the producer price indexes for the December quarter, which rose 1.3 per cent and was up 3.7 per cent over the past twelve months.
FuturesThe Dow Jones futures are pointing to a rise of 87 points.
The S&P 500 futures are pointing to a rise of 14 points.
The Nasdaq futures are pointing to a rise of 105 points.
The SPI futures are pointing to a rise of 184 points when the market next opens.
Best and worst performersAll sectors closed in the black. The best-performing sector was Consumer Discretionary, up 3.3 per cent. The sector with the fewest gains was Energy, up 0.82 per cent.
The best-performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 was Imugene
(ASX:IMU), closing 10.5 per cent higher at $0.32. It was followed by shares in PolyNovo
(ASX:PNV) and Clinuvel Pharmaceuticals
(ASX:CUV).
The worst-performing stock in the S&P/ASX 200 was Ramelius Resources
(ASX:RMS), closing 8 per cent lower at $1.31. It was followed by shares in Newcrest Mining
(ASX:NCM) and Mesoblast
(ASX:MSB).
Asian marketsJapan's Nikkei has gained 2 per cent.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng has lost 0.8 per cent.
China's Shanghai Composite has gained 0.1 per cent.
Wall StreetOver the last four trading days, the Dow Jones lost 0.3 per cent, the S&P 500 lost 1.7 per cent and the Nasdaq lost 3.1 per cent.
Commodities and the dollarGold is trading at US$1798.10 an ounce.
Iron ore is 0.5 per cent higher at US$138.75 a ton.
Iron ore futures are pointing to a rise of 3.8 per cent.
Light crude is trading $0.54 higher at US$87.15 a barrel.
One Australian dollar is buying 70.30 US cents.
