The bargain buying propelled on calming fears on the economic impact of the coronavirus outbreak in China after the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) said he was confident in China's ability to stem the virus outbreak. More than 4,500 people have been confirmed ill with the virus and 106 have died with the coronavirus centered in the Chinese city of Wuhan, an industrial hub along the Yangtze river, prompted businesses to close operations and curbed travel.
The United States and several other nations were taking steps to airlift citizens out of a Chinese city at the center of the outbreak. Still, U.S. health officials said Tuesday that, for now, the risks to Americans is very low.
The information technology sector out-performed with a gain of 1.7 per cent, while healthcare was up 1.1 per cent and industrials were up 1 per cent.
Financials also outperformed and added the most points thanks to its weight in the index. Virgin Money gained 9.4 per cent to A$3.50, and Credit Corp gained 4.6 per cent to A$34.33. ANZ Bank was up 1.3 per cent. Macquarie Group gained 1.1 per cent to A$144.60 and Magellan Financial Group gained 2.8 per cent to A$65.51. Magellan's subsidiary MFF Capital Investments announced a fully franked 20 cents special dividend today, giving fund manager and major shareholder Chris Mackay a A$12.8 million pay day.
The biggest decline today was a massive 26 per cent fall in Treasury Wines to the lowest price in 18 months of $12.35 after a profit warning.
Gold miners also dropped with Newcrest Mining down 2.1 per cent, Northern Star down 3.9 per cent, and Evolution Mining down 2 per cent.
Oil producers also softened as Beach Energy dropped a further 1.9 per cent on top of Tuesday's losses,.
ECONOMIC NEWS: Australia Consumer Prices Up 0.7% On Quarter In Q4-- Australia consumer prices were up 0.7 percent on quarter in the fourth quarter of 2019, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Wednesday, up from 0.5 percent in the three months prior. On a yearly basis, inflation gained 1.8 percent as compared to 1.7 percent from the Q3 reading.
Australia Leading Index Signals Weak Economic Momentum In First Half Of 2020- Australia's leading index, which indicates the likely pace of economic activity relative to trend three to nine months into the future, rose to -0.32 percent in December from -0.62 percent in November, , data published by Westpac showed on Wednesday. Nonetheless, the index growth remained below zero, representing the thirteenth straight month where the index growth has been negative.
CURRENCY NEWS: The Australian dollar, sensitive to shifts in broader risk appetite, has eased against the greenback. The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.6760 after touching an earlier low of $0.6744.
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