Australia Stocks rises for third consecutive session

The Australian share market finished higher for third consecutive session on Monday, 09 December 2019, as risk sentiment underpinned by tracking Wall Street's gain last Friday after surprisingly strong U.S. jobs data and better-than-expected import data from China. At closing bell, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index rose 23.01 points, or 0.34%, to 6,730.03, while the broader All Ordinaries gained 22.89 points, or 0.34%, to 6,836.37.

The market risk-on mood was fuelled by tracking Wall Street's gain on last Friday after data strong jobs growth in the world's largest economy eased fears of a slowdown. The U.S. economy added 266,000 jobs in November, according to figures released by the Labor Department. The unemployment rate fell to 3.5%, matching its lowest level since 1969.

China's exports declined for the fourth consecutive month in November as a trade war with Washington rumbles on, official data showed Sunday, although imports rebounded pointed to firming Australian demand.

Data from the General Administration of Customs showed China's exports were down by 1.1 per cent in the last month of the year, after a drop of 0.9 per cent in October on slowing global demand. Imports were up 0.3 per cent from the year earlier, after October's 6.4% decline. China's trade surplus for November fell to $US38.73 billion, compared with $US42.81 billion surplus recorded in October. The figure for November 2018 was $US35.5 billion.

Investors also got some encouraging news on the U.S.-China trade front, with Beijing saying Friday that it is waiving punitive tariffs on U.S. soybeans and pork as negotiations for a trade deal continue. Also, Trump said on last Thursday that the two countries were inching closer to a trade deal. Both sides have less than 6 days to go before Washington is poised to impose even more tariffs on Chinese goods. Tariffs on another $156 billion in Chinese goods are set to go into effect on Dec. 15.

Shares of materials and resources inclined on tracking strength in iron ore futures prices. Top iron ore miners BHP Group, Rio Tinto and Fortescue Metals Group added between 1.7% and 3.4%. Lynas Corp added 2.4% after it picked outback town Kalgoorlie as the site for a new initial ore processing plant, which could help the rare earths miner sooth Malaysian government concerns about radioactive waste.

Shares of energy players inclined as global oil prices rose up to 1.6% after OPEC+ nations agreed to further production cuts into the first quarter of 2020. Oil and gas producers Santos and Woodside Petroleum climbed 1.7% and 1.9% higher, respectively. Petroleum retailer Viva Energy Group, however, slumped 6.6% as it warned that it expects fiscal 2019 underlying net profit to fall by up to 41% from a year earlier due to fuel-margin pressures.

CURRENCY NEWS: The Australian dollar, sensitive to shifts in broader risk appetite, inclined against greenback. The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.6833 after rising from levels below $0.678 last week.

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