Australia Market extends gains to third day

The Australian share market finished higher for the third consecutive session on Monday, 24 May 2021, with issues sensitive to global economic trends advancing as robust economic data from the United States and Europe boosted market sentiment.

At closing bell, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 advanced 15.68 points, or 0.22%, to 7,045.93. The broader All Ordinaries added 10.75 points, or 0.15%, to 7,276.

Total 9 of 11 S&P/ASX200 sectors ended higher, with top performing sector were healthcare (1.49%), energy (up 1.09%), consumer discretionary (up 0.89%), and financial (up 0.53%), while worst performing sectors was materials (down 1.09%).

The top performing stocks in the S&P/ASX200 were S&P/ASX200 Kogan.com (up 14.71%), Gold Road Resources (up 5.82%), Westgold Resources (up (5.09%), Silver Lake Resources (up 4.99%), and Domino's Pizza Enterprises (up 4.57%), while worst performing stocks were OZ Minerals (down 4.6%), Fortescue Metals Group (down 4.17%), AMP (down 3.56%), Deterra Royalties (down 3.45%), and Perenti Global (down 3.01%).

The market mood brightened thanks to strong U.S. and European purchasing managers' indexes in May released by British financial data provider IHS Markit late last week.

Shares of miners were lower, with BHP suffering 1.8%, while Rio Tinto fell 2.2% Fortescue Metals dropped 4.2%.

Shares of lenders were up. Commonwealth Bank gained 0.7% to close at a new record $98.76. Westpac gained 1.3%, NAB was up 0.7%, and ANZ Bank gained 0.6%.

Gold miners were also stronger with Newcrest up 2.7% after the safe-haven commodity traded at five-month highs of US$1883.51 per ounce.

CURRENCY NEWS: The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 89.819 off levels above 90 seen earlier in the week. The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.774 following a recent rise from around $0.772.

Powered by Capital Market - Live News