Fourth straight week of gains

THE Australian sharemarket was flat after clawing back earlier losses but the All Ordinaries Index of the nation’s top 500 companies managed to inch up to yet another all-time high.

The S&P/ASX200 firmed just 4.9 points to 7063.5 while the All Ordinaries Index lifted 8.3 points to 7325.8 — improving on the record 7317.5 set the previous day.

CommSec analyst Steve Daghlian said the local bourse had its fourth straight week of gains.

OpenMarkets Group chief executive Ivan Tchourilov said strong domestic and overseas data had helped propel the market, continuing to indicate the global recovery was gathering momentum.

“China’s economy grew at 18.3 per cent compared to 6.5 per cent in the same quarter last year,” Mr Tchourilov noted. “China is expected to overtake the US as the world’s largest economy over the next decade, so stocks like BHP, Rio Tinto and Fortescue are well positioned to ride the gain train going forward as demand for commodities such as iron ore continues to rise.”

Rio Tinto added 0.99 per cent to $118.88 and BHP lifted 0.51 per cent to $47.57 but Fortescue dipped 0.62 per cent to $20.82.