The Australian share market has risen for the fifth time in six trading sessions as investors pulled out of bonds and back into shares amid expectations of rapid rises in US interest rates.
The All Ordinaries index climbed 0.6 per cent to 7,665, while the ASX 200 index put on 0.5 per cent to 7,378, reaching a fresh two-month high during the session.
Most sectors were higher, with financial firms and technology stocks bolstering the market, and miners the main weak spot after five days of rises.
The best performers were technology company Uniti Group (+10.6pc) on a reports of a new takeover bid, biotech firm Imugene (+9.6pc) on approval for a cancer treatment study, and online bookmaker Pointsbet (+8.3pc).
Uniti went into a trading halt pending an announcement late in the afternoon.
Losing ground were healthcare firm Fisher & Paykel (-7.8pc) after it said higher freight costs were squeezing profit margins, biotech Mesoblast (-6pc) and miner Champion Iron (-3.4pc).
Santos strikes oil
Oil and gas producer Santos (-0.3pc) lost its gains, despite announcing a new oil discovery off the coast of Western Australia.
It confirmed a significant oil discovery at its Pavo-1 exploration well near its Dorado facility, approximately 160 kilometres north-east of Port Hedland.
Santos chief executive Kevin Gallagher said the discovery was "a great result."
Carnarvon Energy jumped more than one third because it owns a 30 per cent interest in Pavo-1.
It ended up 14.1 per cent to $0.37.
Oil prices rose in Asian trade after falling overnight.
At 4:15pm, Brent crude oil climbed 1.2 per cent $US116.88 a barrel, while spot gold was lower at $1,920.67 an ounce.
COVID-19 hits Kathmandu owner
Outdoor adventure wear maker, KMD Brands, the owner of Kathmandu and Rip Curl brands, has swung from profit to a half year net loss of $NZ5.5 million ($5.1 million) because of flat sales over the six months to the end of January.
Chief executive Michael Daly said Kathmandu and Rip Curl stores in Australasia were hurt by COVID-19 closures over the first quarter of the financial year, but recovered strongly in the second quarter.
KMD shares rose 3.7 per cent to $1.28.
Insurance Australia Group (-1.3pc) updated the market on the latest test case involving COVID-19 business interruption claims.
It said it was maintaining its net provisions of $1.2 billion for potential business interruption insurance claims.
Rex raises airfares
Regional airline Rex said it would raise domestic and regional airfares on Friday because of surging oil prices and rising inflation.
Fares will increase by $10, with some larger increases on lower-priced promotional fares.
Rex shares fell 0.4 per cent to $1.24.
The Australian dollar rose to a five month high of 74.76 US cents in morning trade, after rising by 1 per cent overnight on the prospect of high commodity prices continuing.
At 4:20pm AEDT the local currency was buying around 74.57 US cents, down 0.15 per cent.
The Nikkei 225 in Tokyo increased 3 per cent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index rose 1.4 per cent in afternoon trade.
Debt-laden Chinese property developer Evergrande promised to unveil a debt restructuring plan by the end of July after it said it would not meet an end of March deadline to file its 2021 financial results because the audit work had not been completed.
ASIC says investors being misled
The corporate regulator is running the ruler over the marketing of the $4.4 trillion managed funds industry to mum and dad investors.
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission said it was concerned that consumers were being misled to expect high returns in volatile, low-yield conditions.
The regulator is examining traditional and digital media advertising by investment funds and product statement disclosures targeting retail and unsophisticated investors, including retirees.
ASIC has taken legal action recently against fund managers for misleading or false advertising, including the Mayfair 101 Group and La Trobe Financial Asset Management.
Record job ads
The National Skills Commission's internet vacancy index jumped by 3.6 per cent in February, bringing job ads to a 13.5-year high of 269,746 available positions.
CommSec said employment vacancies were at record highs for 15 occupations, with hospitality workers the most in demand, followed by general inquiry clerks, call centre workers, receptionists and food trade workers.
The demand for labour was highest in New South Wales and Victoria.
Senior economist Ryan Felsman expects the official unemployment rate to fall to 3.8 per cent in the second half of 2022 and the Reserve Bank to raise interest rates by June.
The jobless rate dropped to an equal record low of 4 per cent last month, the lowest since August 2008.
Wall Street jumps
US stocks have gained overnight, boosted by technology shares, as markets absorb plans by the US central bank to further raise interest rates to curb surging inflation.
On Monday, local time, US Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell said that inflation was "much too high" and vowed to take "necessary steps" to tackle price rises.
Federal Reserve official James Bullard told Bloomberg TV overnight that the US central bank should raise its benchmark interest rate to 3 per cent this year.
"Faster is better," he said.
However, billionaire US investor Carl Icahn said a US recession, or worse, could be on the horizon because of surging inflation and the war in Ukraine.
He told CNBC that it was unclear whether the Federal Reserve could engineer a soft landing.
The Dow Jones index rose 0.7 per cent, to close at 34,807, the S&P 500 increased 1.1 per cent, to 4,512, and the Nasdaq put on nearly 2 per cent, to 14,109.
Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Meta and Alphabet were among the firms that drove higher the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq.
Shares in sportswear company Nike (+2.2pc) rose after its quarterly profit and revenue were better than expected.
Tesla (+7.9pc) gained as it delivered its first German-made cars at its Gruenheide gigafactory, its inaugural European hub.
Elon Musk, the founder of the electric car maker, danced and joked with fans as thirty clients and their families got a first glimpse of their new vehicles.
Tesla said manufacturing issues that previously hampered production because of the pandemic had eased.
In London, the FTSE 100 index rose 0.5 per cent, to 7,477, the DAX in Germany rose 1 per cent, to 14,473, and the CAC 40 increased 1 per cent, to 6,659.
War fuels recession fears
Major energy traders warned of gas and diesel shortages in Europe as well as the potential for an economic recession as markets struggle to absorb the potential loss of about two million barrels of oil a day from Russia, one of the world's biggest energy exporters.
The chief executives of four of the biggest energy traders — Vitol, Gunvor, Mercuria and Trafigura — said the gas market had become dysfunctional because of unmanageable margin calls.
Margin calls arise when the gap between the market price and the future sale becomes too wide, forcing traders to increase the deposit they hold at commodity exchanges on each trade.
Mercuria chief executive Marco Dunand said he expects Gulf countries to benefit most from higher oil prices.
"From an economic perspective, Russia will be a loser."
"Europe won't do particularly well either with a refugee crisis...(and) higher commodity prices," he said.
The war in Ukraine has restricted Russian exports and led to the highest oil prices since 2008.
However, oil prices edged lower overnight, with the European Union looking less likely to ban Russian oil.
Brent crude fell 0.2 per cent, to settle at $US115.48 a barrel.
Spot gold lost 0.8 per cent, to $US1,920.64 an ounce.
European Union foreign ministers are split on calls for sanctions on Russian oil and gas supplies.
The EU relies on Russia for 40 per cent of its gas.
Russian boycott continues
France's TotalEnergies is the latest global company to boycott Russian commodities, saying that it will not renew its Russian gas oil and crude oil supply contracts for its German refinery.
Russian and Kazakhstan oil exports via the Caspian Pipeline Consortium from the Black Sea may fall by up to 1 million barrels of oil per day, or 1 per cent of global oil production, because of a damaged berth, according to a Russian official.
A storm in Russia's section of the Black Sea has damaged loading equipment belonging to CPC, one of the world's biggest oil pipelines that ships crude oil from Kazakhstan to global markets.
Pavel Sorokin, Russia's Deputy Energy Minister, said maintenance could take up to two months, which could lead to exports falling by 1 million barrels of oil per day.
ABC/Reuters
