Domestic household spending data bolsters market sentiment
Banks, tech, healthcare join bargain-hunting rally
Iress top gainer, BHP trades ex-dividend
Sept 4 (Reuters) – Australian shares ended higher on Thursday, snapping a four-day losing streak, as gains in major banks helped the market rebound, while fresh domestic economic data aided consumer stocks.
The S&P/ASX 200 index closed 1% higher at 8,826.50 points, after shedding over 2.5% across the past four sessions.
Dovish remarks from U.S. Federal Reserve officials buoyed sentiment further, while softer U.S. job openings data reinforced expectations of a near-term Fed cut.
In Sydney, financials led the charge. The “Big Four” banks climbed between 1.3% and 2.1%, with Commonwealth Bank of Australia, the country’s largest lender, finishing 2.1% higher.
Philip Pepe, a senior equities analyst at Shaw and Partners, noted that banks have long been viewed as pricey relative to their historical valuations, leaving many investors minimising their exposure.
Thursday’s rally, he said, likely reflected bargain-hunting and the unwinding of some underweight positions.
Consumer-linked sectors also strengthened after fresh data showed Australia’s household spending accelerated in July, led by healthcare, travel and accommodation demand.
The consumer staples, discretionary and healthcare indexes gained 1%, 1.4% and 1.1%, respectively.
Domino’s Pizza rose 1.4% to rank among the top five gainers of the discretionary index, bolstered by share purchases from its executive chairman. Conglomorate Wesfarmers advanced 2.5%.
Among staples, Woolworths rose 1.9% and Graincorp added 1.7%.
“Consumer outperformance today is data-driven,” said Justin Lin, an Investment Analyst at Global X ETFs, adding that the data suggested “consumers are becoming more confident about discretionary purchases.”
Healthcare majors CSL and Cochlear added 2.1% and 0.9%, respectively.
Tech stocks rebounded, climbing 1.3% after the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained as Alphabet surged following a U.S. judge’s ruling against breaking up the Google parent.
Miners and energy firms ended largely flat. BHP fell 0.7% after trading ex-dividend.
Trading platform provider Iress emerged as the benchmark’s top gainer after naming Andrew Russell as group CEO, replacing Marcus Price.
New Zealand’s benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index ended 0.4% higher at 13,133.2 points. (Reporting by Kumar Tanishk in Bengaluru; Editing by Janane Venkatraman)
