Australian shares in positive territory

The local share market staged an impressive turnaround in the afternoon session, rallying after 2pm into the close.

“We saw the ASX 200 turned from negative to positive, with energy and materials sectors the best performers on the day,” said Chris Conway, Head of Research at Australian Stock Report.

Santos (STO) was the best of the oilers, jumping 2.8%, whilst of the miners, BHP Billiton (BHP) put on 1% and Rio Tinto (RIO) added 1.2%. Little brother Fortescue Metals (FMG) jumped 6%.

According to Conway, “Gold stocks also shone bright, after gold bounced overnight, with Evolution Mining (EVN) soaring 8% and Northern Star (NST) putting on 7.6%.”

The big banks were mixed with ANZ Banking Group (ANZ) rising 0.6% and Commonwealth Bank (CBA) adding 0.1%, while National Australia Bank (NAB) slipped 0.1% and Westpac (WBC) fell 0.3%.

Sectors that didn't fare so well were industrials, property trusts and healthcare. Of the latter, CSL Limited (CSL) lost 0.5%, ResMed (RMD) shed 1.8%, and Ramsay Healthcare (RHC) gave up 2%.

On the day the ASX 200 added 13 points (+0.2%) to settle at 5248.