Australia Stocks hit two months peak

Headline indices of the Australian financial market closed at highest level in more than two months on Thursday, 17 January 2019, with shares in energy and materials issues leading rally. At closing bell, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index added 14.90 points, or 0.26%, to 5,850.05 points, while the broader All Ordinaries index rose 16.12 points, or 0.27%, to 5,909.83 points.

Shares in materials and resources advanced on firmer commodity prices, with diversified miner South32 leading rally, up 2.3%, after its second-quarter coking coal output nearly doubled.

Energy stocks were also higher. Woodside Petroleum rose 0.7% after announcing 43% surge in first-quarter revenue on its Wheatstone LNG project. Santos lifted 0.8%, Origin was 0.6% higher, and New Hope Corporation leapt 2.3% higher. Beach Energy was up 1.2% and Oil Search shares rose 0.5% after a positive progress report on its Pikka B well in Alaska. Whitehaven Coal recovered from an early dip to rise 3.7%, after a mixed trading update that reported an 11% increase in coal production, but a seven% decline in sales for the quarter.

Among individual stocks, shares in online retailer Kogan.com surged 22.2% after it announced a solid Christmas sales period had offset dwindling iPhone revenue.

CURRENCY: Australian Dollar eased against greenback and against a basket of other peers on Thursday. The Australian dollar was quoted at 71.52 US cents from 71.98 US cents on Wednesday.

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