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A Mother’s Day weekend, accompanied by news of easing lockdown restrictions, had traders in a good mood this morning as Aussie share spurred onwards.
After the Federal Government’s unveiling of the three-step plan to reopen the country’s economy on Friday, a strong weekend close on Wall Street kept sentiment high.
Today, the benchmark ASX 200 index trudged upwards for the second session in a row as each state reveals its own timeline of action under the new three-step plan. Tougher restrictions in the eastern states are being lifted as Western Australia plans to have workers back in offices and regional travel unlocked next week.
The index closed 1.30 per cent higher at 5461.20 points. All sectors of our local market closed a healthy shade of green.
The industrials sector was a top performer today as embattled travel stocks posted some solid gains. It seems with restrictions starting to ease, eager punters are placing early bets to make a buck off the sector’s recovery. Sydney Airport gained 3.67 per cent, Auckland Airport 5.23 per cent, and Qantas Airways 3.82 per cent.
It was the recently-established real estate sector, however, that was the pick of today’s litter. The surge was spearheaded by our major shopping centre stocks as hopes of reopened doors rise up. Scentre Group gained 3.64 per cent, Mirvac Group 2.28 per cent, and Vicinity Centres 4.55 per cent. Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield closed grey.
Tech stocks had their own happy day, led by Afterpay’s 5.74 per cent rise. Xero gained 0.78 per cent and Computershare 3.41 per cent. WiseTech, however, underperformed and lost 0.30 per cent.
Our market heavyweights, the materials and financials sectors, urged the winning day higher.
Interestingly, our big four banks had a mediocre day compared to other big players in the listed finance world. Commonwealth Bank gained 0.91 per cent, Westpac 0.77 per cent, and ANZ 0.51 per cent. NAB declined by 0.62 per cent.
Meanwhile, investment banker Macquarie gained a neat 6.36 per cent, Insurance Australia gained 3.41 per cent, and Suncorp gained 4.15 per cent.
As for resource stocks, our big iron ore players worked together with our gold stocks for a change. Rio Tinto gained 1.19 per cent, Fortescue gained 0.58 per cent, and BHP gained 0.48 per cent.
Newcrest gained 0.72 per cent, Northern Star 1.30 per cent, Evolution 2.23 per cent, and Saracen 2.91 per cent.
Across the ocean, it was mostly green across all major Asian indexes. When the ASX closed for the day, the Asia Dow was 1.30 per cent higher, the Nikkei 225 was 1.05 per cent higher, and the Hang Seng was 1.54 per cent higher. Only the Shanghai Composite missed out, sitting 0.17 per cent lower.
As for our local currency, the Aussie dollar rose again. Today, one dollar is buying 65.44 US cents, 52.72 pence, and 11.96 South African Rand.
Today’s ups and downs
Junior explorer TNT Mines (ASX:TIN) remained the top gainer today after snapping up the East Canyon Uranium-Vanadium Project in Utah through a full-scrip purchase. Shares in the company tacked on a hefty 193.48 per cent today to close worth 14 cents each.
It’s tough to pick a loser on a day like today, but it seems Parkway Minerals (ASX:PWN) fell victim to some profit-taking today after a share price surge late last week. Despite announcing plans for a new pre-feasibility study, the fertiliser minerals explorer lost 20 per cent today. Nevertheless, the company’s share price is still double what it was on Thursday last week, currently sitting at 0.8 cents.
