Australian Shares Rise at Close Trade

The Australian sharemarket ended higher at the close on Wednesday, as increases in the Real Estate Investment, Consumer Staples and Consumer Discretionary areas boosted shares higher.

Australian Stocks

The S&P/ASX 200 index struggled in early trade and it twice rallied to a 0.4% gain. But now, it added 0.12%, or 6.71 points, at 5,724.60 by 7:36 GMT. The benchmark finished 0.2% higher on Tuesday.

The biggest gainers  of the period on the S&P/ASX 200 were Nine Entertainment Co Holdings Ltd , which increase 6.56% or 0.080 points to trade at 1.300  at the close. Isentia Group Ltd obtained 3.53% or 0.60 points to end at 1.760. Lastly, the Tassal Group Ltd was up 2.97%, or 0.130 points, to trade at 4.500.

On the other hand, the biggest losers of the period included G8 Education Ltd, which lost 3.99% or 0.140 points to trade at 3.370 in late trade.  Vocus Group Ltd decreased 4.73% or 0.140 points to trade at 2.820. Lastly, the South32 Ltd got 2.58%, or 0.070 points, to 2.640.

Declining stocks outstripped rising ones from 569 to 488 and 382 ended unchanged on the Sydney Stock Exchange.

The S&P/ASX 200 VIX, which  measures the implied volatility of S&P/ASX 200 options, was down 6.58% to 11.855.

Moreover, energy stocks decreased in spite of a moderate recovery in oil prices, as investors sought more clarification on the direction of OPEC-led production cuts.

AUD/USD was down 0.19%, or 0.0014, to 0.7452 by 8:37 GMT.

The US Dollar Index Future was up 0.08% at 97.30, from its previous close of 97.22.

Economic Data

On Tuesday, housing data from the Australian Bureau of Statistician revealed April building approvals increase 4.4% from the previous month, but decreased 17.2% earlier from a year earlier. 

The data comes on the back of the regulator’s efforts to cool down an overheated housing market by establishing limits on mortgage lending by big banks, hitting their outlook.

The financial index 0.4%, helped by the monthly improvement in housing starts. The five biggest banks had gains of between 0.2% to 1%.

Investors will also gather Chinese factory activity data for May, due on Wednesday, which is expected to show the slowest movement of the growth pace in eight months. 

China is Australia's biggest trading partner.

Commodity Trading

In the trading of commodities, Gold Futures for June delivery  was up 0.05%, or 0.66 to $1,262.76 a troy ounce from its previous close of $1,262.10. Meanwhile, Crude oil for July delivery was down by 0.97% or 0.48 to hit $49.18   a barrel from its previous close of $49.66, while the August Brent oil fell 0.92% to trade at $51.76 by 8:33 GMT, from its previous close of $52.24. 

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