Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Shares rally on debt crisis hopes

Australian shares rallied to a six-week high today, driven by hopes euro zone policymakers will finally come up with a plan to resolve the region's debt woes and recapitalise its banks.
At the close, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was up 69.8 points, or 1.7 per cent, at 4275.4, while the All Ords gained 68.9 points, or 1.6 per cent, to 4337.9.
By sector, today's biggest advance came among the materials, which rose 2.2 per cent, while financials added a hefty 1.8 per cent.
The Australian dollar lost a bit of ground today, but held on to most of last week's hefty gains on optimism that Europe will soon come up with a concrete plan to tackle its debt crisis.
The Aussie last traded at $US1.0301, down from $US1.0341 late in New York on Friday, where it scaled a one-month peak of $US1.0347.
Last week's near 6 per cent rally, which was the Aussie's biggest weekly move in over two years, has lifted it towards key resistance at $US1.0380, the 200-day moving average and then $US1.0399, the September 16 high.
Thanks to SMH

No comments:

Post a Comment