Share market rises sharply, with mining stocks among best performers
The Australian share market has risen sharply, with investors rediscovering the optimism that drove the market's strong gains on Monday.
The All Ordinaries index finished the session up 59 points or 1.1 per cent at 5,380.
The ASX 200 posted its biggest daily gain in more than three months, rising 61 points to 5,396.
Mining stocks were among the market's best performers, recovering from their losses yesterday.
Rio Tinto rose 1.7 per cent and BHP Billiton closed 1.3 per cent higher.
Smaller iron ore players did not fare as well though after the Chinese benchmark iron ore price fell again overnight to $US68.60 a tonne, with Fortescue Metals Group slipping 0.7 per cent lower and Atlas Iron falling 4.9 per cent.
Finance stocks matched the mining sector's gains.
Westpac led the major banks with a rise of 1.4 per cent, the Commonwealth gained 1.1 per cent, NAB 1 per cent, and ANZ 0.9 per cent.
In its second day of trade as a publicly listed company, Medibank Private slipped further from its opening price, losing 1.9 per cent to close at $2.10 a share.
Cabcharge shares rose 2.3 per cent, despite shareholders again rejecting the remuneration report for directors and senior management at the firm's annual general meeting.
Telstra gained 0.9 per cent and Qantas soared 4.9 per cent higher.
West Texas intermediate crude oil was weaker at $US73.99 a barrel at 5:00pm (AEDT), Tapis crude oil in Singapore was selling for $US79.58 a barrel, and spot gold was trading around $US1,200 an ounce.
At 5:00pm (AEDT), the Australian dollar was buying around 85 US cents, 68.5 euro cents, 54.4 British pence, 100.6 Japanese yen and 109.2 New Zealand cents.
