ASX surge as US deal brokered

AUSTRALIAN shares have gained for back-to-back days for the first time since the coronavirus crisis began, rallying in the final minutes of trade yesterday on reports US politicians had agreed on a massive stimulus deal to shore up the world’s biggest economy.

The S&P/ASX200 benchmark index powered almost 6 per cent in early trade, faded before noon and then gained 153 points in the last 15 minutes of the day after the White House announced it had a deal on the $A3.3 trillion stimulus measure. The index closed yesterday up 262.4 points or 5.54 per cent, to 4998.1, while the All Ordinaries index finished up 252.9 points, or 5.32 per cent, higher at 5006.2.

The Australian dollar also rallied on the news, buying over 60 US cents for the first time in a week.

Financials led gainers, climbing 8.7 per cent, as all of the big banks climbed out of their recent doldrums.

The Commonwealth Bank was up 9.5 per cent to $62.40, NAB gained 9.7 per cent to $15.79, ANZ climbed 11.6 per cent to $16.57 and Westpac added 9.2 per cent to $15.85.

In the mining sector, BHP added 10.2 per cent to $31.30, Rio Tinto gained 5.4 per cent to $83.82 and Fortescue Metals gained 5.0 per cent to $10.22. Goldminers Newcrest, Evolution and Northern Star were up between 5.3 and 10.3 per cent.

Bell Direct market analyst Jessica Amir said gold – which was trading for $US1614 an ounce as the market closed – was enjoying its best four-day stretch in years.

Buy now, pay later company Afterpay was the best performing ASX200 component, climbing 33.8 per cent to $15 after falling as low as $8.01 on Monday. Qantas gained 26.3 per cent to $3.27 after securing $1.05 billion of funding against its aircraft fleet at an interest rate of 2.75 per cent to give the national carrier some added liquidity.