SYDNEY, Jan. 17 (Xinhua) -- The Australian share market has finished higher on Friday, ending the session with another all-time record close after four-straight days of solid gains.

At the close of trade, the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index was up 22.30 points or 0.32 percent at 7,064.10, while the broader All Ordinaries index rose 21.70 points or 0.30 percent at 7,180.30.

Buoyed by the signing of the 'phase one' trade deal between China and the United State's earlier this week, Aussie investors looked to buy.

Leading the market was the materials and consumer staples sectors, along with industrials and info tech stocks.

Despite the positivity and risk-on sentiment however, energy stocks underperformed, losing 0.75 percent across the board.

In the financial space, Australia's big banks saw mixed results with the Commonwealth Bank down (0.49 percent), Westpac Bank up (0.32 percent), National Australia Bank up (0.39 percent) and ANZ unchanged (0.20 percent).

Mining stocks surged with BHP up (1.17 percent), Rio Tinto up (1.78 percent), Fortescue Metals up (3.73 percent) and gold miner Newcrest was up (0.82 percent).

The country's oil and gas producers plunged lower with Woodside Petroleum down (1.22 percent), Santos down (0.79 percent) and Oil Search down (0.13 percent).

Australia's largest supermarket chains jumped with Coles Group up (0.32 percent) and Woolworths up (0.93 percent).

While telecommunications giant Telstra lifted (0.52 percent), the national carrier Qantas soared (1.13 percent) and biomedical firm CSL lost ground (0.26 percent). Enditem

Related

Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)