Australia: Shares touch record high, Ampol top loser on benchmark
AUSTRALIAN shares touched a record high on Tuesday, reflecting broad gains among heavyweight miners on rising iron ore prices, while top fuel retailer Ampol emerged as the top loser after lower production print.
The S&P/ASX 200 index rose 0.6 per cent to 8,305.5 points by 2329 GMT after touching a record high of 8,307.2 points. The benchmark rose 0.5 per cent on Monday.
Ampol, the top loser on the benchmark, fell as much as 5 per cent to its lowest level since mid-January 2023, after recording a 42 per cent drop in third-quarter output from its Lytton refinery in Queensland.
Mining stocks advanced 1 per cent with iron ore prices surging on renewed prospects of further fiscal stimulus from top consumer China.
Mining giants BHP Group, Fortescue and Rio Tinto rose between 0.9 per cent and 1.3 per cent, respectively.
Financials followed with a gain of 0.8 per cent, climbing to a near three-week high with the “Big Four” banks adding between 0.7 per cent and 1.2 per cent.
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Tracking Wall Street, tech stocks advanced 0.5 per cent with Xero rising 0.3 per cent and WiseTech Global gaining 0.5 per cent.
Overnight, the US Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 201.36 points, or 0.47 per cent, at 43,065.22 points on Monday. The S&P 500 gained 44.82 points, or 0.77 per cent, while Nasdaq gained 159.75 points, or 0.87 per cent.
The only losers on the index, energy stocks, lost 0.3 per cent as oil prices were pressurised by a weak global demand outlook.
Sector major Woodside fell 1.2 per cent while smaller rival Santos slipped 1.3 per cent.
This week, Rio Tinto and Woodside will report their quarterly production results on Wednesday while BHP and Santos are expected to announce on Thursday.
New Zealand’s benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index inched 0.1 per cent lower to 12,751.93 points.
The country’s quarterly inflation due on Wednesday is expected to ease to 2.2 per cent on a year-on-year basis, according to a Reuters poll. REUTERS
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