The Australian share market has strung together two positive sessions in a row for the first time this year.
A bounce in oil prices back up towards $US30 a barrel, a positive lead from US markets, and hints by European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi of more economic stimulus measures buoyed investors.
“Certainly, `super Mario’ has helped us along. A positive lead from Wall Street, commodity price action was all to the upside last night – we’re happy now,” OptionsXpress market analyst Ben Le Brun said.
“But sentiment shifts on a five-cent piece at the moment. It (Friday’s gain) doesn’t mean we won’t give them up come Monday.”
Mr Le Brun said the welcome relief for traders in Friday’s rally was that it came in the sectors where most of the recent carnage had been: energy and materials.
Consumer staples stocks also had a pretty good day, but the banks lagged.
In the resources sector, global miner BHP Billiton surged $1.06, or 7.46 per cent, to $15.26, and Rio Tinto climbed $1.29 to $39.65.
In the energy sector, Santos soared 28 cents, or 10.94 per cent, to $2.84 despite flagging writedowns and cuts to its oil and gas reserves as it joins the growing list of energy players hit by the slump in commodity prices.
Mr Le Brun said investors had already priced Santos for `absolute oblivion’ and only news outside of left field could really hurt the stock even more.
Among the major banks, ANZ was up 24 cents at $23.35, National Australia Bank lifted 10 cents to $26.92, Westpac picked up four cents at $29.93, and Commonwealth Bank sagged 25 cents to $76.56.
Medibank Private ascended 26 cents, or 11.61 per cent, to $2.50 after it forecast its full year profit to exceed $470 million.
Penfolds-maker Treasury Wine Estates rocketed up $1.38, or 17.47 per cent, to $9.28 after the wine supplier said late on Thursday that unaudited half-year earnings had exceeded expectations, boosted by strong demand in Asia.
Mr Le Brun said a couple of profit upgrades from stocks on the Australian market had been a rare event in the last couple of years so it was not surprising that investors were rewarding Medibank Private and Treasury Wine.
KEY FACTS:
* At 1627 AEDT on Friday, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was up 52 points, or 1.07 per cent, at 4,916.0 points.
* The broader All Ordinaries index was up 52 points, or 1.06 per cent, at 4,969.6 points.
* The March share price index futures contract was 53 points higher at 4,880 points, with 40,193 contracts traded, according to preliminary calculations.
* Preliminary national turnover was 1.5 billion securities traded worth $4.3 billion.
