Australian shares close higher led by banks; All Ords at new high - UPDATE |
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Published
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Mon, 19 Feb 2007 07:07
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SYDNEY (XFN-ASIA) - Share prices closed higher as investor sentiment bounced back from Friday's profit-taking, sending the All Ordinaries index to a fresh record close, dealers said.Banking stocks led the market higher, including Australia & New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) after it announced a 4.05 aud a share bid for the remaining 65.8 pct of online share-trading firm E*Trade Australia that it does not already own.The S&P/ASX 200 ended up 36.4 points or 0.61 pct at 5,990.1, edging closer to Thursday's record close of 5,992.8. The index hit an intraday record high of 6,003.2.The broader All Ordinaries index climbed 33.8 points to a record close of 5,969.3, beating Thursday's previous record close of 5,969.1. The index also set a new intraday record of 5,983.0.ANZ shares rose 0.58 aud to finish at 29.83, Westpac advanced 0.29 to 25.64, National Australia Bank was up 0.31 at 40.85 but Commonwealth Bank lost 0.30 to 50.90 after trading ex-dividend.Dealers said Promina Group, Australia's third largest general insurer and currently the subject of a recommended takeover offer from Brisbane-based Suncorp-Metway, gained after reporting a 7.9 pct increase in 2006 net profit to a record 544.6 mln aud.Promina shares added 0.02 to end at 7.50, Suncorp-Metway gained 0.05 to 22.48, QBE was up 0.39 at 31.12 and AMP climbed 0.08 to 10.69.Childcare provider ABC Learning fell on profit taking despite announcing a 60 pct surge in interim profit to 61.6 mln aud. ABC Learning dropped 0.31 aud or 3.19 pct to close at 7.62.A total of 1.19 bln shares worth 4.00 bln aud were traded, with rises outnumbering falls 652 to 585 and 344 stocks unchanged.The S&P/ASX200 March futures contract was up 52.0 points at 5,976.0.The 10-year bond yield fell 0.0125 to 5.7725 pct while 90-day bills rose 0.006 to 6.373 pct.Bell Potter Securities private client advisor Stuart Smith said trading today reflected his view that large-cap stocks will steer the Australian share market higher this year.'The market has recognized (that) this is going to be the year of the big-cap stocks,' he said.Smith said today's standout was Commonwealth Bank. After going ex-dividend, it managed to fall just 0.30 aud after investors reaped their 1.07 aud share return.Smith said the week ahead is uncertain, noting the natural tendency of the Australian share market to end the week softer following a strong Monday.'All I can say is for today, so far so good,' he said.BHP Billiton added 0.03 to close at 28.98 while Rio Tinto eased 0.01 to 77.94.Alumina gained 0.08 to 7.30, Zinifex climbed 0.48 to 17.30 and Iluka advanced 0.12 to 6.55.Newcrest was up 0.09 at 21.92, Lihir Gold rose 0.08 to 3.36 and Oxiana added 0.01 to 2.92.Woodside climbed 0.31 to 37.31, Santos gained 0.10 to 10.35 but Oil Search slipped 0.02 to 3.60.Origin Energy rose 0.20 to 9.05 and Alinta rose 0.07 to 14.37.BlueScope added 0.04 to 9.50 and OneSteel gained 0.16 to 5.25.Brambles advanced 0.40 to 14.23, Amcor gained 0.11 to 7.40 and PaperlinX rose 0.17 to 4.00.Woolworths rose 0.19 to 25.33, Coles added 0.02 to 14.36 but David Jones eased 0.02 to 4.69.Foster's gained 0.04 to 7.14 but Lion Nathan fell 0.05 to 8.54.CSL lost 0.43 to 70.58 but Cochlear jumped 0.37 to 59.75.Telstra added 0.02 to 4.47, its T3 receipts gained 0.01 to 3.04 while SingTel shed 0.04 to 2.80.News Corp advanced 0.10 to 31.42 but its non-voting stock fell 0.08 to 29.76.Qantas was up 0.01 at 5.21, Virgin Blue rose 0.05 to 2.66 and Toll Holdings climbed 0.26 to 20.97.Macquarie Airports slipped 0.02 to 3.78.(1 usd = 1.27 aud)paul.daniel@xfn.com
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Australian shares close lower on profit-taking ahead of Fed meeting 