By Oliver Gray
Investing.com - the S&P/ASX 200 closed slightly higher on Tuesday, adding 12.1 points or 0.16% to 7437.3, extending gains of 0.25% in the previous session with investors digesting mixed local data as business confidence recovered slightly while house prices soared.
On the coronavirus front, Victoria added 445 fresh cases today, following yesterday’s yearly high of 473 as Premier Daniel Andrews announced that details of the roadmap to reopening the state will be revealed on Sunday, based on modelling from the Burnet Institute. New South Wales added 1127 cases as NSW Health's Jeremy McAnulty noted that it would take a few more days to see whether the state's case numbers had peaked.
Among stocks, Oil Search Ltd (ASX:OSH) added 5.35% and Santos Ltd (ASX:STO) lifted 5.19% after their recent A$21 billion merger deal, buoyed by higher crude oil prices overnight. Miners closed mixed, with Rio Tinto Ltd (ASX:RIO) adding 0.6%, BHP Billiton Ltd (ASX:BHP) up 0.6% and Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (ASX:FMG) falling 1.79%.
Among data, the NAB business confidence index rose to -5 from -7 in July, despite a worsening outlook for the economy amid continued restrictions in New South Wales and Victoria. Alan Oster, NAB group chief economist noted that “The resilience seen in the August survey results suggest that the supports in place, and lingering momentum from earlier in the year, are continuing to support the economy.” Meantime, Australia’s house price index rose by 6.7% quarter-on-quarter, posting the steepest pace of increase on record amid record low interest rates.
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 fell 69.86 points or 0.53% to 13108.61.