Australia’s share market rose for an eleventh straight session on Thursday to reach a fresh seven-year closing high as three of the big four local banks scaled record peaks.
The S&P/ASX 200 index ended up 0.6 per cent at 5,811.0, having earlier touched 5,819.1 — a high not seen since May 2008. The index has risen 9.5 per cent in 11 sessions, a feat not seen in over five years.
A late rally in bank stocks helped offset losses in the energy sector, which fell on a renewed slide in oil prices.
Commonwealth Bank reached A$93.29, while Westpac Bank hit A$36.54. ANZ retested its all-time high of $35.07 first reached nearly a year ago.
National Australia Bank, which reported a 6 per cent gain in first-quarter cash profit, climbed to a 15-month high of A$37.03. However, it was still some way off its record peak of $44.84 set back in 2007.
New Zealand's benchmark NZX 50 index rose 0.2 per cent or 12.3 points to finish at 5,797.6.
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.