SYDNEY, Aug 9: Australian shares inched up 0.2 percent on Thursday, led by resource stocks, after positive domestic job data and as inflation figures from China suggested scope for further monetary policy easing in the key export market.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index rose 10.9 points to 4,323.5 at 0223 GMT. The index closed 0.5 percent higher at 4,312.6 points on Wednesday, the highest close in 3 months.
Australia’s employment edged past expectations with a rise of 14,000 in July, while the jobless rate surprised with a dip to 5.2 percent.
In China, annual consumer inflation fell to a 30-month low in July, suggesting the central bank has scope to ease monetary policy further after rate cuts in June and July to keep China’s economy on track to meet an official 2012 growth target of 7.5 percent.
‘We’ve had a positive reaction to that data at the moment we’ve got resources leading the way,’ said Stan Shamu, market analyst at IG Markets. ‘The market’s at the new high for the day so that’s quite positive [after the data release].’
The data from China came on the back of bullish comments from Rio Tinto on the outlook for growth there. Rio, the world’s second-largest iron ore producer, said it expected to see signs of improvements in Chinese economic activity by the end of the year.
Rio Tinto bounced 3.3 percent to A$56.73. BHP rose 1.89 percent to A$32.89. Fortescue was up 0.7 percent at A$4.55.
New Zealand’s benchmark NZX 50 index slipped 0.1 percent to 3,577.8 points.
U.S. And European shares inched higher overnight, scraping out gains as investors found little reason to keep pushing stocks higher after the market hit three-month highs.
STOCKS ON THE MOVE
Australia’s biggest phone company Telstra, fell 1.9 percent to A$3.90 after it posted a larger than expected 5 percent fall in second-half profit to A$3.4 billion, less than the A$3.5 billion expected by analysts.
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News Corp dropped 2.9 percent to A$21.95, after it posted a quarterly loss on Wednesday, taking $2.85 billion of non-cash restructuring and impairment charges, overshadowing growth in light of the hacking scandal.
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Shares in gaming group Tabcorp fell 4.4 percent to A$3.16. The company met analyst expectations with a 12.7 percent rise in full-year net profit for the year ending June.
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Finance provider Flexigroup dropped 7.3 percent to A$2.97 after CEO John Delano announced he will step down at the end of 2012. Delano delivered a 20 percent increase in pre-tax profit for the past financial year according to the Australian.
(agencies)
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