By Oliver Gray
Investing.com - S&P/ASX 200 was up 62.80 points or 0.88% to 7,179.50 in Thursday’s trade, following a positive close on Wall Street overnight as commodities were pushed higher due to ongoing geopolitical risks in Ukraine, with crude oil touching fresh 10-year highs and Coal prices surging, providing a strong boost to the energy and materials sectors.
ASX 200 Futures were down 0.2%.
Energy stocks surged about 2.86% collectively, with Woodside Petroleum Ltd (ASX:WPL) up 2.46%, Santos Ltd (ASX:STO) up 3.37%, Beach Energy Ltd (ASX:BPT) gaining 4.83% and Viva Energy Group Ltd (ASX:VEA) adding 1.57%.
Materials gained ground, up 2.1% overall with Rio Tinto Ltd (ASX:RIO) gaining 2.3%, BHP Billiton Ltd (ASX:BHP) adding 3.06%, Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (ASX:FMG) up 1.24%, Piedmont Lithium Ltd (ASX:PLL) adding 4.86%, Magnis Resources Ltd (ASX:MNS) up 3.41%, Avz Minerals Ltd (ASX:AVZ) up 4% and Whitehaven Coal Ltd (ASX:WHC) climbing 5.59%.
Financials also lifted as Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX:MQG) added 1.67%, Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd (ASX:ANZ) added 0.86%, National Australia Bank Ltd (ASX:NAB) gained 0.21%, Westpac Banking Corp (ASX:WBC) eased 0.2% and Commonwealth Bank Of Australia (ASX:CBA) added 0.32%.
On the bond markets, Australia 10-Year rates were at 2.14% while United States 10-Year yields were at 1.847%.
On the data front, ABS reported that Australia’s trade surplus increased to $A12.891 billion as exports rose 8% while imports fell 2%.
In new Zealand, the NZX 50 added 1.24% to 12,249.