The Australian market has shot up by more than one-and-a-half per cent at noon, with investors using yesterday’s falls to lap up cheaper stocks.
CMC Markets chief market analyst Ric Spooner describes it as a relief rally following Monday’s decline.
The Aussie bourse is also following positive leads out of Wall Street, where markets looked through jitters in Asia about China’s moves to tighten its property market.
“It reflects the significant increase in volatility in the last couple of weeks with two big selling days: one yesterday and another on February 21,” he told AAP.
“But it’s bouncing relatively strongly as well as reflecting the conflicted nature of the market .. money is waiting on the sidelines to come in with elevated risk in both directions.”
The banks were big market movers with their attractive yields, posting near three per cent gains.
ANZ was up 71.5 cents at $29.075, CBA rose $1.54 to $68.66, NAB lifted 73 cents to $30.83 and Westpac advanced 84 cents to $31.20.
Investors were not wholly embracing riskier, cyclical stocks, with miner BHP Billiton 4.5 cents down at $35.525, Rio Tinto 26 cents up at $63.91 and Fortescue Metals six cents lower at $4.31.
There was some good economic news, with official sales figures showing Australian retail spending rose 0.9 per cent in January to a seasonally adjusted $21.589 billion.
KEY FACTS
* At 1215 AEDT, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was up 78 points, or 1.56 per cent, at 5,088.5 points
* The All Ordinaries index was up 75.9 points, or 1.51 per cent, at 5,104.4 points
* The March share price index futures contract was up 73 points at 5,094 points, with 19,975 contracts traded.
* National turnover was 683.5 million securities worth $1.8 billion.
