Aussie shares round out September with fresh record
The Australian share market is ending the month with a fresh all-time high, while the local currency is also near a 19-month high.
In the first minutes of trading on Monday, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index had climbed as high as 8,271.9, eclipsing the previous intraday record of 8,246.2 set on September 20.
Just before 10.30am, the index was at 8,249.8, up 37.6 points, or 0.46 per cent, from Friday’s close.
Moomoo analyst Jessica Amir said September had brought out the bulls, despite it traditionally being the weakest month for stocks.
The rally has been supported by gains in the price of iron ore and other commodity metals following China’s announcement last week of massive stimulus measures to revive its lagging economy.
Also in the US, the Federal Reserve’s preferred measure on inflation came in slightly weaker than expected in a monthly readout Friday night, supporting further aggressive rate cuts.
Nine of the ASX’s 11 sectors were higher in early trading, all but consumer discretionary and telecommunications.
The energy sector was the biggest gainer, up 2.0 per cent, possibly responding to the threat of a broader Middle East war after Israel’s killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.
Woodside was up 2.9 per cent and Santos had climbed 1.6 per cent.
Goldminers were losing ground near as the previous metal traded near a record high of $US2,658 an ounce.
Northern Star was down 1.4 per cent, Newmont had dropped 2.9 per cent and Evolution had fallen 1.8 per cent.
In currency, the Australian dollar was buying 69.07 US cents, from 68.86 US cents at Friday’s ASX close.
The Aussie breached the 69 US cent level briefly last week, but otherwise hasn’t traded that high since February 2023.
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