Australia Market gains 0.8%; Energy shares lead on jump in oil prices

Headline indices of the Australian stock market climbed to their highest in nearly 8-month on Tuesday, 23 April 2019, after resuming trade after the Easter break. Gains were recorded across all sectors, with materials and energy issues leading the charge, buoyed by rising commodity prices and rising oil prices on a supply squeeze. Around late afternoon, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index advanced 49.49 points, or 0.8%, at 6,309.30 points, the highest level since early September 2018, while the broader All Ordinaries added 50.23 points, or 0.8%, at 6,400.10. Trading volume turnover were relatively low, reflecting that many Australians remain on holidays ahead of ANZAC day on Thursday.

Energy stocks climbed up on rising oil prices on a supply squeeze. The United States said it will eliminate all waivers that allowed eight countries to buy Iranian oil without facing U.S. sanctions, in its latest step to choke off Iranian oil exports. Most major local oil & gas producers were benefiting with the likes of Woodside, Santos, and Oil Search all rising more than 2%.

Shares of materials companies also improved despite base metal markets closed overnight for the Easter break. Fortescue Metals was up 3% while BHP Group added 0.6% and Rio Tinto rose 1.3%.

Financials were higher, with all four of the big banks in the green. Westpac Bank led gains for the big four as it firms by 1.1%. National Bank was the main laggard, trading 0.2% higher.

Shares in Aussie payment tech company EML Payments climbed more than 12 per cent higher after it announced a deal to provide a reloadable betting card to bet365's US customers.

CURRENCY: The Australian dollar declined against the U.S. dollar on Tuesday on concerns China may slow the pace of policy easing. The Australian dollar was quoted at $0.7124, down from $0.7136 on Monday.

Stocks on Wall Street closed mixed on Monday in choppy trading as traders seemed reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the release of a slew of earnings news from big-name companies in the coming days. The Dow dipped 48.49 points or 0.2% to 26,511.05, the Nasdaq rose 17.21 points or 0.2% to 8,015.27 and the S&P 500 inched up 2.94 points or 0.1% to 2,907.97.

Crude oil prices jumped more than 2% on Monday on growing concern about tight global supplies after the United States announced a further clampdown on Iranian oil exports. Washington said it would eliminate in May all waivers allowing eight economies to buy Iranian oil without facing US sanctions. International benchmark Brent crude soared 2.9% to settle at $74.04 a barrel on Monday and US West Texas Intermediate crude jumped 2.7% to settle at $65.70. Both indexes climbed to nearly six-month highs during the session.

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