US-China talks push sharemarket higher

THE Australian share market closed higher for a third day ahead of another round of US-China trade talks.

The ASX200 finished yesterday up 29.8 points, or 0.45 per cent, to 6593.4, while the All Ordinaries was up 27 points, or 0.4 per cent, to 6713.7 points.

“A pretty good session,” CommSec market analyst James Tao said. “The market is still waiting to see what will come out of two days of trade talks towards the back of the week. That’s the main focus at the moment.”

China’s Vice-Premier Liu He is leading the delegation in talks in Washington tomorrow and Friday, with days to go until US tariffs on China rise next Tuesday.

Every sector was higher yesterday, led by energy and consumer discretionary, which were both up 1 per cent.

Santos shares rose 2 per cent to $7.50 while Carnarvon, which has a 20 per cent stake in the project, rose 5.3 per cent to 40c.

In the consumer discretionary sector Wesfarmers rose 1.1 per cent to $39.40 and KFC and Sizzler franchisor Collins Foods climbed 5 per cent to an all-time high of $10.44, having risen 69 per cent this year.

But Baby Bunting fell 5.9 per cent to $3.50 after chief executive Matt Spencer told investors at the company’s annual general meeting that technical issues with the transition to a new web platform had hurt online sales.

The big banks were all higher, led by CBA, which rose 0.9 per cent to $78.60.

BHP climbed 0.7 per cent to $35.61, Rio Tinto rose 1.1 per cent to $88.58 and Fortescue Metals dropped 1.9 per cent to $8.74.

Buy-now-pay-later company Zip Co rose 7.5 to a new all-time high of $5.19, having risen 370 per cent this year.