ASX surge to best close in month
THE ASX has shaken off most of its losses from its dismal December, closing at its highest level in over a month.
The benchmark S&P/ ASX200 index was up 63.8 points, or 1.14 per cent, to close at 5683.2 at 1615 AEDT yesterday, with confidence high on the back of strong US jobs data.
The broader All Ordinaries was up 67.5 points, or 1.19 per cent to 5744.5.
“It’s been a pretty strong start for the first full trading week of 2019,” said CommSec market analyst James Tao.
The close was the local bourse’s best since December 4, when the ASX200 finished at 5713.14.
The index then declined 5.3 per cent over the next 20 days, hitting an intraday low of 5410.2 on Christmas Eve, but has since rebounded.
Most sectors were in the green, particularly the information technology and resources sectors.
Tao cited as reasons for the rally the robust US jobs data; dovish comments by US Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell; and talks between US and China in Beijing this week that aim to resolve their destructive trade dispute sending shockwaves around the globe.
“That all culminates in some pretty favourable trading,” Tao said.
The Aussie dollar was also trading at its highest level in two-and-a-half weeks, he noted.
IT shares were the strongest on the ASX, up 2.76 per cent.