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Aussie shares close higher

Xinhua, March 7, 2016 Adjust font size:

Australian stocks ended the day higher, with the banks and miners once again leading the charge.

At 4.15PM (AEDT), the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was 52.8 points, or 1.04 percent, higher at 5,142.8, while the broader All Ordinaries index was up 53.6 points, or 1.04 percent, at 5,204.7.

Aussie materials stocks and the Aussie dollar both looked like they were getting ahead of themselves, said IG market analyst Angus Nicholson in a note Monday.

"Iron ore skyrocketed 5 percent on Friday, and the highly leveraged Fortescue Metals jumped 18.7 percent today," Nicholson said.

Fortescue Metals Group ended the day up a staggering 23.69 percent.

"And yet much of the recent levity seen in the iron ore spot price seems to be driven by the rebuild in Chinese iron ore inventories."

At the close, ANZ was up 2 percent, the Commonwealth Bank of Australia gained 1.58 percent, the National Australia Bank rallied 2.55 percent, and Westpac saw a rise of 1.45 percent.

BHP Billiton lifted 5.21 percent, rival Rio Tinto gained 3.76 percent and gold miner Newcrest fell 1.45 percent.

Oil Search rose 1.79 percent, Santos rallied 1.54 percent and Woodside Petroleum lifted 2.44 percent.

Wesfarmers gained 0.37 percent with rival Woolworths up 1.32 percent.

Qantas ended the day 1.88 percent higher while Telstra lifted 0.29 percent. Endit