Australia Market gains on Russia-Ukraine diplomatic talks resumptions

The Australian share market finished higher for second straight session on Thursday, 10 March 2022, as appetite for riskier assets continued on tracking positive lead from Wall Street overnight, pullback in crude oil futures and the resumption of diplomatic talks between Russia and Ukraine.

Russia's foreign minister Sergei Lavrov arrived in Turkey ahead of planned talks on Thursday with his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba.

At closing bell, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 advanced 77.80 points, or 1.1%, to 7,130.83. The broader All Ordinaries index added 79.05 points, or 1.08%, to 7,410.87.

The top performing stocks in this index were PALADIN ENERGY and LIFE360 INC., up 11.04% and 6.77% respectively. The bottom performing stocks in this index were NICKEL MINES and RIO TINTO, down 13.2% and 7.7% respectively.

Financial stocks extended gains, with big four banks gaining between 2.4% and 3.5%, a day after RBA Governor Philip Lowe said that it was "plausible" the central bank could hike interest rates in 2022.

Technology stocks jumped on tracking an overnight surge in the US peers. Shares of Block Inc. added 7.1%, while Computershare rose 3.7%.

Mining and energy stocks suffered heavy losses after a pullback in commodity prices, with Rio Tinto, Fortescue Metals Group and BHP Group slipping between 1.5% and 7.7%. Woodside Petroleum and Santos slumped 4.7% and 2.4%, respectively.

ECONOMIC NEWS: Australia Building Permits Fall 27.9% In January- Australia total number of building permits issued was down a seasonally adjusted 27.9% on month in January, coming in at 12,916, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Thursday. That follows the 8.2% increase in December. Permits for private sector houses were down 17.5% on month to 8,712, while permits for private sector dwellings excluding houses plummeted 43.6% to 4,007. On a yearly basis, permits for private sector houses fell 29.0%, permits for buildings excluding houses fell 8.5% and total permits sank 24.1%.

CURRENCY NEWS: The Australian dollar was at $0.7339, still off lows below $0.726 seen earlier in the week.

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