The Australian sharemarket ended a three-day run of losses with modest gains, despite a rise in the unemployment rate.
Unemployment rose to six per cent in June – although the participation rate is up and a better than expected almost 16,000 extra people found jobs.
CMC Markets sales trader Betty Lam said the market was up due to positive US and European overnight leads, the extra job additions and a 5.5 per cent gain in the value of China’s monthly imports for June.
“The China trade data definitely provided a little bit of a kickstart to the market as it was slumping a little bit around midday,” she told AAP.
“Three out of the four banks were in the red most of the day, they are pretty much the largest cap stocks on our market so that keeps the market pretty much suspended in the middle.”
Volumes were also thin with the $2.7 billion value of Thursday’s trading less than half the $6 billion average before a slump in activity in the last few months.
Among the banks, ANZ was down two cents to $33.16, Westpac was 10 cents lower at $33.75, Commonwealth Bank rallied late to close six cents up at $80.85 and National Australia Bank gained 12 cents to $33.39.
BHP Billiton was up 16 cents at $37.41, Rio Tinto closed 27 cents higher at $62.41 and Fortescue Metals dropped three cents at $4.35.
Education provider Navitas was 29 cents, or six per cent, higher at $5.15, a day after the loss of a major contract saw its shares dive 30 per cent.
KEY FACTS
* At the close on Thursday the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was 11.9 points, or 0.22 per cent, higher at 5,464.4.
* The broader All Ordinaries index was up 12.1 points, or 0.22 per cent, at 5,454.3.
* On the ASX 24, the September share price index futures contract was six points higher at 5,420, with 17,805 contracts traded.
* National turnover was 1.6 billion securities worth $2.7 billion.
