By Oliver Gray
Investing.com - The S&P/ASX 200 added 82.50 points or 1.17% to 7,146.10 on Monday, retracing losses of 0.9% in the previous week, with rising long term bond yields boosting financial stocks as investors observed escalating conflicts in Ukraine while rising inflation pressures are forcing higher cash rates from central bank policymakers.
ASX 200 Futures were up 0.85%.
Among stocks, Financial companies led the gains with a 2.11% improvement as Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX:MQG) added 1.7%, Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd (ASX:ANZ) gained 2.4%, National Australia Bank Ltd (ASX:NAB) added 1.6%, Westpac Banking Corp (ASX:WBC) lifted 2.16% and Commonwealth Bank Of Australia (ASX:CBA) climbed 2.46%.
Health Care also gained 1.7% collectively, as CSL Ltd (ASX:CSL) added 2.24%, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare Ltd (ASX:FPH) dipped 0.52%, Sonic Healthcare Ltd (ASX:SHL) added 1.48%, Ramsay Health Care Ltd (ASX:RHC) gained 11.2%, Pro Medicus Ltd (ASX:PME) lifted 1.84% and Cochlear Ltd (ASX:COH) gained 1.45%.
Materials were 0.25% lower overall as Rio Tinto Ltd (ASX:RIO) dipped 0.66%, BHP Billiton Ltd (ASX:BHP) eased 0.63%, Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (ASX:FMG) was down just 0.05%.
Meantime, Elders Ltd (ASX:ELD) surged 11.83% after the company said its financial year 2022 results were forecast to be better than market expectations.
Magellan Financial Group Ltd (ASX:MFG) was down 5.6% as the fund manager reported that the amount under its management had dropped 10.5% to $A69 billion.
On the bond markets, Australia 10-Year yields were at 39-month highs of 2.415% while United States 10-Year yields were at 2.032%.
Ahead in the week, investors will be paying close attention to the RBA minutes on Tuesday, as well as fresh unemployment data due to Thursday.
Several states and territories in Australia have public holidays today, which means trading could be lower than normal.