Australia shares creep higher despite spike in virus cases

Investore Property

17/07/2020 07:45

* Australian benchmark index gains 1.5% on weekly basis
    * Rio Tinto closes slightly up after hitting near 6-month
peak
    * Westpac, NAB help financials finish higher

 (Updates to close)
    By Nikhil Subba
    July 17 (Reuters) - Australian shares closed marginally
higher on Friday, helped by gains in mining and material stocks
even as concerns over rising coronavirus cases kept many
investors on the sidelines.
    The S&P/ASX 200 index  .AXJO  rose 0.4% to 6,033.60,
recovering some ground after Thursday's 0.7% drop. For the week,
it was up 1.5%.
    Australia's Victoria state reported a record daily increase
in COVID-19 cases while New South Wales said it was tightening
some restrictions as authorities struggle to contain a new
outbreak.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N2EO0GC
    Helping investor sentiment, the Australian government on
Thursday said it would inject a further A$1.5 billion ($1.05
billion) into a wage subsidy programme as the national
unemployment rate hit a 22-year peak in June.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N2EN0JP
    "It's (the market) sitting on a wall of worry right now,"
said Brad Smoling, managing director at Smoling Stockbroking.
    "We have had such a sugar hit from all of the stimulus, we
are taking a seat and wondering if we can keep going or start to
fall over?"
    The European Union will meet later in the day to discuss a
proposed stimulus to kick-start the COVID-hit economy.
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL5N2EN6G4
    Mining stocks  .AXMM  climbed 0.8%, led by a 4.4% rise in
Alumina Ltd  AWC.AX . South32 Ltd  S32.AX  advanced 4.2%, while
Rio Tinto  RIO.AX  closed 0.6% higher after touching a near
six-month high earlier in the day.
    Financial stocks  .AXFJ  rose 0.1%, with Westpac Banking
Corp  WBC.AX  finishing 0.5% higher and National Australia Bank
 NAB.AX  adding 0.2%.
    The gold index  .AXGD  rose 0.5%, led by a 4.6% jump in
Alkane Resources Ltd  ALK.AX , while Evolution Mining Ltd
 EVN.AX  gained 2.4​%
    In New Zealand, the benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index  .NZ50  rose
0.7% to 11,584.1.
    Restaurant Brands New Zealand Ltd  RBD.NZ  gained 6.4%,
while Property for Industry Ltd  PFI.NZ  added 4.1%. 
 ($1 = 1.4314 Australian dollars)

 (Reporting by Nikhil Subba in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu
Sahu)
 ((Reuters Messaging:
Nikhil.Subba.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))
 
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