The Australian stock market has pushed higher as bargain hunting investors take advantage of the previous day’s sell-off.
CMC Markets chief market analyst Ric Spooner said the local market had pushed ahead despite a lacklustre lead from Wall Street.
He said the move was likely a rebound from Monday’s session, when the market finished 41 points lower.
“It just looks like we are seeing a bit of bargain hunting in some of the stocks that were probably beaten up to the greatest extent yesterday,” he said.
Mr Spooner said the market was likely to remain higher for the remainder of the day, though traders would be looking ahead to the release of Chinese economic data, due later Tuesday afternoon.
Westpac was the strongest performer among the big four banks, lifting 47.5 cents to $31.565, while ANZ shares gained 34 cents to $31.09, Commonwealth Bank put on 56 cents to $75.46 and National Australia Bank climbed 45.5 cents to $33.625.
But insurer QBE continued to slump, with its shares down 76.5 cents, or more than six per cent, to $11.235.
That comes a day after the company flagged a $250 million net loss this year, which saw more than $4 billion wiped from its market cap.
Among the major miners, BHP Billiton was 19.5 cents higher at $36.995, but Rio Tinto was four cents lower at $66.49.
Meanwhile, Australian petroleum companies were benefiting from soaring natural gas prices fuelled by north American demand.
Woodside Petroleum was up 53 cents to $37.93 and Santos had increased seven cents to $14.50.
Brambles spin-off Recall Holdings made a positive market debut. Its shares were trading at $4.35 at 1210 AEDT, up from their listing price of $4.15.
KEY FACTS
* At 1205 AEDT on Monday, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was up 33.4 points, or 0.65 per cent, at 5,177.9 points.
* The broader All Ordinaries index was up 30.7 points, or 0.6 per cent, at 5,179.1 points.
* The December share price index futures contract was up 37 points at 5,190 points, with 14,207 contracts traded.
* National turnover was 643 million securities worth $1.65 billion.
