Australian shares rebound as investors cheer Fed's rate hike decision

EML Payments

16/06/2022 02:03

June 16 (Reuters) - Australian shares rose on Thursday, led
by gains in financials and tech, which tracked the Wall Street
higher after investors cheered the U.S. Federal Reserve's
decision to hike interest rates by three-quarters of a
percentage point. 
    The S&P/ASX 200 index  .AXJO  snapped a four-day losing
streak to climb 1% in early trade. The benchmark fell 1.3% on
Wednesday. 
    The Fed's decision to hike rates by 75 basis points - a
widely expected move - was welcomed by investors as they viewed
that the economy was better off in the long run if the Fed
succeeded in reining in prices now.  .N 
    Tech stocks  .AXIJ  climbed as much as 1.9% to their highest
level in a week. EML Payments  EML.AX  climbed 6.3% to lead
gains on the index, followed by Novonix  NVX.AX , up 4.9%.   
    Financials  .AXFJ  advanced 1% with the big four banks
gaining between 0.3% and 1.5%. 
    Meanwhile, Link Administration's shares  LNK.AX  slumped as
much as 10.7% to their lowest level in over two years after the
country's competition regulator tabled concerns about Canadian
firm Dye & Durham Ltd's (D&D)  DND.TO  proposed C$3.2 billion
($2.48 billion) acquisition of the firm.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2Y301A
    Gold stocks  .AXGD  rose 2.3% on higher bullion prices.
Heavyweights Newcrest Mining  NCM.AX  and Northern Star
Resources  NST.AX  were up 2.1% and 1%, respectively.  GOL/ 
    Mining stocks  .AXMM  also advanced 1.2%, even though iron
ore prices fell, but upbeat economic data from top consumer
China for the month of May pushed copper and aluminium prices
higher.  IRONORE/  MET/L  
    Energy stocks  .AXEJ  shed 0.9% on a decline in oil prices
after the Fed's announcement, as markets worried that there
could be a fall in demand for the commodity which trades in the
greenback.  O/R 
    New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index  .NZ50  rose 1% and
was headed for its best session in two weeks.
    The country's economy unexpectedly contracted in the first
quarter as a slump in exports swamped strong domestic spending.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2Y23KA 

 (Reporting by Tejaswi Marthi in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh
Kuber)
 ((Tejaswi.marthi@thomsonreuters.com))
 
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