By Oliver Gray
Investing.com - The S&P/ASX 200 was 40.40 points or 0.55% higher at 7,393.50 on Tuesday, snapping two sessions of consecutive declines with rebounding iron ore prices providing a boost for heavyweight mining stocks as traders cheered a marginal improvement in consumption of industrial metals in China, while higher long term bond yields hit technology stocks.
ASX 200 Futures were 54 points or 0.74% higher.
Among stocks, Rio Tinto Ltd (ASX:RIO) added 3.03%, Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (ASX:FMG) lifted 6.08% while BHP Billiton Ltd (ASX:BHP) gained 3.65% following news that Woodside Petroleum Ltd (ASX:WPL) finalised its $A40 billion deal to absorb BHP’s petroleum assets via an all stock merger. Other energy stocks also fared well as Oil prices lifted, with Santos Ltd (ASX:STO) up 2.42% Oil Search Ltd (ASX:OSH) up 1.45%, Woodside Petroleum Ltd (ASX:WPL) lifting 3.18% and Beach Energy Ltd (ASX:BPT) gaining 1.67%.
Financial names also lifted on higher longer term bond yields, with Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd (ASX:ANZ) up 1.05%, Commonwealth Bank Of Australia (ASX:CBA) gaining 0.53%, National Australia Bank Ltd (ASX:NAB) lifting 0.21% and Westpac Banking Corp (ASX:WBC) up 0.83%.
On the bond markets, Australia 10-Year rates were at 1.891% while United States 10-Year yields were at 1.632%.
Among currencies, the Aussie was trading near fresh 7-week lows of 0.72288, while the DXY extended 16-month highs to 96.502.
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 gained 0.4% to 12658.