Australia Market ends higher; energy and mining stocks lead rally

The Australian share market finished session higher on Monday, 13 December 2021, recouping the losses in the previous two sessions, as investors chased for bargain hunting on tracking positive lead from Wall Street late last week and flurry of deal updates and earnings upgrades. Meanwhile, market risk sentiments boosted up after commodity prices climbed up on bets the Omicron variant likely have a limited impact on global fuel demand.

At closing bell, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 advanced 25.74 points, or 0.35%, to 7,379.26. The broader All Ordinaries index added 29.57 points, or 0.39%, to 7,697.51.

The top performing stocks in this index were NETWEALTH GROUP and ST BARBARA, up 6.2% and 5.69% respectively. The bottom performing stocks in this index were GUD HOLDINGS and INSURANCE AUSRALIA GROUP, down 4.04% and 3.64% respectively.

Total 6 of 11 sectors were higher along with the S&P/ASX 200 Index. A-REIT was the best performing sector, gaining 1.75%, while financial was the worst performing sector, falling 0.27%,

Shares of energy sectors advanced on tracking strength in crude oil prices. U.S. crude futures traded up 1.03% at $72.41 a barrel while global benchmark Brent added 0.86% to $75.80.Beach Energy and Worley rose 3.4% and 2.7%, respectively.

Shares of materials and resources climbed up as Chinese iron ore futures bounced back on positive demand outlook. Rio Tinto, BHP Group, and Fortescue gained between 2.6% and 3.1%.

Shares of financials were down, with insurance players led downtrend after a brokerage downgraded Insurance Australia Group to "sell". Insurance Australia Group slid 3.6%, while QBE Insurance Group and Suncorp lost 3.3% and 1.1%, respectively.

Shares of Property investor Charter Hall jumped to a record high after raising earnings forecast for the second time in two months.

CURRENCY NEWS: The dollar index was at 96.261, compared with its previous close at 96.097. The Australian dollar fell 0.35% to $0.7146.

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