By Oliver Gray
Investing.com - The S&P/ASX 200 closed higher during Thursday’s deals, adding 9.90 points or 0.14% to 7,342.40, snapping two sessions of consecutive decline as strong prices for Coal, Nickel, Oil and strong trading updates from gold miners boosted gains in the materials and energy sectors, while positive local data also boosted sentiment.
The Materials sector closed 3.01% higher with Rio Tinto Ltd (ASX:RIO) up 3.18%, BHP Billiton Ltd (ASX:BHP) adding 3.11%, Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (ASX:FMG) gaining 4.65%, Champion Iron Ltd (ASX:CIA) up 1.93%, Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX:PLS) adding 2.16%, Arizona Lithium Ltd (ASX:AZL) surging 8.82%, Lake Resources NL (ASX:LKE) gaining 2.03%, Lynas Rare Earths Ltd (ASX:LYC) lifting 1.73% and OZ Minerals Ltd (ASX:OZL) adding 3.95% while Magnis Resources Ltd (ASX:MNS) and Avz Minerals Ltd (ASX:AVZ) finished flat at 0.595 and 0.8 respectively.
Gold miners saw significant gains as Northern Star Resources Ltd (ASX:NST) surged 11.2% following a corporate update that signaled robust gold production. St Barbara Ltd (ASX:SBM) added 5.58%, Gold Road Resources Ltd (ASX:GOR) lifted 5.96%, Newcrest Mining Ltd (ASX:NCM) gained 6.59%, Perseus Mining Ltd (ASX:PRU) was up 6.08%, Chalice Gold Mines Ltd (ASX:CHN) lifted 7.46%, Mineral Resources Ltd (ASX:MIN) added 2.76% and Evolution Mining Ltd (ASX:EVN) rallied 8.92%.
Nickel miners rallied, with Jervois Mining Ltd (ASX:JRV) up 4.2%, Ardea Resources Ltd (ASX:ARL) adding 4.72%, Mincor Resources NL (ASX:MCR) gaining 4.86% and Regis Resources Ltd (ASX:RRL) up 6.06%.
Technology was down 0.85%, as Appen Ltd (ASX:APX) fell 2.19%, Megaport Ltd (ASX:MP1) added 1.11%, Novonix Ltd (ASX:NVX) fell 1.3% Brainchip Holdings Ltd (ASX:BRN) dipped 6.81%, Altium Ltd (ASX:ALU) fell 1.56%, Computershare Ltd. (ASX:CPU) lost 1.48%, Xero Ltd (ASX:XRO) retreated 0.27% and Technology One Ltd (ASX:TNE) fell 1.09%.
BNPL players Zip Co Ltd (ASX:Z1P) and Afterpay Touch Group Ltd (ASX:APT) were down 1.37% and 2.18% respectively.
Financials were mostly lower with Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX:MQG) down 0.55%, Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd (ASX:ANZ) up 0.07%, Commonwealth Bank Of Australia (ASX:CBA) falling 0.72%, National Australia Bank Ltd (ASX:NAB) dipping 1.27% and Westpac Banking Corp (ASX:WBC) easing 0.61%.
On the data front, the unemployment rate fell to a 13-year low of 4.2% and came in below market expectations of 4.5%.
On the bond markets, Australia 10-Year rates were at fresh 12-week highs of 1.981% while United States 10-Year yields held near 2-year highs of 1.859%.
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 fell 0.91% to 12,497.