By Oliver Gray
Investing.com - The S&P/ASX 200 added 14.1 points or 0.2% to 6,616.3 after the first hour of Tuesday’s trade, partially recouping losses of 1.1% in the previous session as gains among Health Care, Energy and Financials boosted sentiment.
ASX 200 Futures were pointing 0.1% higher.
Among stocks, CSL Ltd (ASX:CSL) added 2.1%, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare Ltd (ASX:FPH) lifted 0.8% and Resmed Inc (ASX:RMD) gained 2.1%.
Woodside Energy Ltd (ASX:WDS) gained 0.9%, Santos Ltd (ASX:STO) fell 0.4% and Viva Energy Group Ltd (ASX:VEA) gained 2.6% after noting expectations of an 140% increase in underlying group EBITDA compared to the same period last year.
Banking heavyweights forged higher with Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX:MQG) up 1.1%, Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd (ASX:ANZ) lifting 0.8%, Commonwealth Bank Of Australia (ASX:CBA) up 1.3%, National Australia Bank Ltd (ASX:NAB) gaining 1.6% and Westpac Banking Corp (ASX:WBC) up 0.7%.
On the data front, Westpac’s consumer sentiment index fell 3% to 83.8 in July, from 86.4 in June, falling for the seventh consecutive month amid rising interest rates and surging inflation to levels only seen during period of major economic disruption in the Australian economy such as the Global Financial Crisis and COVID-19 pandemic.
Ahead in the session, investors will be monitoring NAB’s business confidence index, while U.S. Q2 corporate earnings are set to kick off later tonight.
On the bond markets, Australia 10-Year yields were at 3.449% while United States 10-Year rates were at 2.98%.
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 eased 0.1% to 11,096.