Australia Market extends gain to fifth day

The Australia stock market inclined for fifth session in row on Thursday, 30 August 2018, on following a decent showing from Wall Street overnight, where the S&P 500 closed at another record high on optimism about trade talks. Merger news in the telecom sector and mostly upbeat local corporate earnings results also boosted investor sentiments. Most of ASX sectors inclined, with shares in energy, health and telco companies being notable gainers. In late afternoon trade, the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index added 11.87 points, or 0.2%, to 6,364.10. The broader All Ordinaries Index rose 16.14 points, or 0.25%, to 6,473.10.

The leaders of the United States and Canada expressed optimism on Wednesday that NAFTA negotiations would meet a Friday deadline for a deal. Canada rejoined the talks to modernise the 24-year-old NAFTA after Mexico and the United States announced a bilateral trade deal on Monday, which had helped global equities begin the week on the front foot. Recent NAFTA negotiations have helped clear some of the uncertainty the markets had been feeling, leading to hopes U.S.-China trade tensions will take a turn for the better.

Shares of telecom sector inclined after Vodafone Hutchison Australia and TPG Telecom have announced a A$15 billion merger of equals in an effort to become a stronger challenger to bigger rivals Telstra and Optus. TPG shares were up almost 15% and HTA's share price rose almost 48%.

Shares of materials and resources inclined, with BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto were up in a range of 0.1% to 0.3%. Gold miners were weak after gold prices once again edged lower, with Newcrest Mining was declining 0.7% and Evolution Mining was losing almost 1%.

Financial stocks were in red, with Westpac down 0.4%, after it became the first major lender to raise key mortgage rates in an effort to preserve profit margins. Commonwealth Bank was down 0.1%.

Energy stocks inclined after crude oil prices rose more than 1% overnight. WTI crude for October delivery jumped $0.98 or 1.4% to $69.51 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. In the energy space, Santos, Oil Search, and Woodside Petroleum were higher in a range of 0.1% to 0.4%.

Among individual stocks, Shares in Ramsay Healthcare were down 6.2%, after Australia's largest private hospital operator reported a 20.6% fall in full-year profit.

CURRENCY NEWS: The Australian dollar was tad higher against the U.S. dollar on Thursday. The Australian dollar was quoted at US$0.7307, up from US$0.7303 on Wednesday.

OFFSHORE MARKET NEWS, US stock market closed higher on Wednesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped rose 60.55 points or 0.2% to 26,124.57, the Nasdaq jumped 79.65 points or 1% to 8,109.69, and the S&P 500 climbed 16.52 points or 0.6% to 2,914.04.

The major European stock markets ended mixed on Wednesday. The German DAX Index and the French CAC 40 Index both rose by 0.3%, while the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index slid by 0.7%.

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