Australian Markets Report

Provided by The Australian Investor

Wednesday 19th September 2001

Shares continued to push forward in afternoon trade yesterday as investors hoped stability was beginning to return to the market, with strong interest in the banking sector. The All Ordinaries jumped 53.1 points (1.8 per cent) to 2948.52 while the S&P/ASX 200 gained 54.8 points (1.9 per cent) to 3010.1.

After copping a hiding over the last week, investors seized on undervalued banking stocks and the bank index jumped 169.9 points (2.2 per cent) to 7733.9. Leading the sector was Macquarie Bank which surged $1.95 (6.1 per cent) to $33.80 while Adelaide Bank gained 32 cents (5.3 per cent) to $6.35 and Bendigo Bank was up 27 cents (4.6 per cent) to $6.12

Resource stocks also pushed forward, with the resource index up 31.7 points (2.4 per cent) to 1357.4. BHP jumped 35 cents (4 per cent) to $9.18, Oil Search surged 6 cents (14.6 per cent) to 47 cents, Australian Magnesium was up 7 cents (8.1 per cent) to 93 cents and Sons of Gwalia gained 11 cents to $6.84.

Telecommunication stocks continued strongly after a confident showing in the last five days trading, SingTel lead the sector, its shares surged 9 cents (5 per cent) to $1.89 while Telstra recovered 17 cents (3.5 per cent) to $5.02

Insurance companies continued to experience mixed fortunes with QBE again receiving a battering, its shares down 67 cents (12 per cent) to $5.12 while Suncorp-Metway recovered 65 cents (5.9 per cent) to $11.65 and AMP regained 73 cents (4.4 per cent) to $17.14

Media stocks remained stagnant with the media index slipping 38.5 points to 23769.5. News Corporation slid 5 cents to $12.40, PBL gained 14 cents to $8.59 and APN gained 17 cents (4.6 per cent) to $3.85.

Among the other movers were ERG which gained 6 cents (12 per cent) to 55 cents, Woolworths up 55 cents (5 per cent) to $1.30, Wesfarmers which jumped $1.05 (4 per cent) to $27.55 and Billabong which recovered 28 cents (4.5 per cent) to $6.53

- Industrials

The S&P/ASX 200 Industrials index gained 88.8 points (1.7 per cent) to 5164.8

- Resources

The S&P/ASX 200 Resources index was up 33.3 points (2.5 per cent) points to 1377.3

- Gold

The gold index gained 6.6 points (0.8 per cent) to 843.7

- AUD

At 1600 local time the Aussie dollar was trading at:

$US 0.4969 down from 0.5119
Euro 0.538 down from 0.5528
Yen 58.56 down from 60.38
$NZ $1.2123 down from $1.2242
Stg 0.3398 down from 0.3469

- Asian Markets

In TOKYO, The Nikkei gained 175.4 (1.9 per cent) points to 9679.8

In HONG KONG, The Hang Seng gained 243.4 points (2.5 per cent) to 9550.7 by the end of the first session.

- SPI Index SFE Sept-1 Future

The SPI index was up 5 to 2994

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