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Local shares turn positive on strong jobs data

Announcement posted by de2 Communications 12 Nov 2015

The Aussie market staged an impressive turn around in the afternoon session to close marginally higher, following the release of stronger-than-expected jobs data.

“We saw the local index turned from negative to positive, with I.T and financials the best performers on the day,” said Chris Conway, Head of Research at Australian Stock Report.

Conway said among the big four banks, “Commonwealth Bank (CBA) was the biggest gainer rising 1.8% while Westpac (WBC) firmed a respectable 1.5%. ANZ Banking Group (ANZ) and National Australia Bank (NAB) were up 1.6% and 0.7% respectively.”

The miners were mixed as Fortescue (FMG) dropped 0.8%, Rio Tinto (RIO) added 0.2% and BHP Billiton (BHP) shed 1.6%.

Conway also noted that, “It seemed the bulls were out of breath in the energy space as the sector lost 3.2% following a drop in oil prices. The biggest mover in the space was Santos (STO) slumping 27% after resuming trading today on a shortfall in the institutional part of the gas player's underwritten $2.5 billion equity raising.”

Elsewhere, Woodside (WPL) was down 1.1% and Origin (ORG) 1.4%. The gold subsector was up 0.7% for the day with Newcrest Mining (NCM) gaining 0.6%.

On the day, the ASX 200 gained a mere 3points (<0.1%) to close at 5126.