By Oliver Gray
Investing.com - The S&P/ASX 200 added 31.50 points or 0.43% to 7,418.60 in Friday’s trade, trading at fresh 9-week highs and extending gains for the third consecutive session as investors tracked a strong finish on Wall Street overnight, while firmer metal prices boosted mining companies.
ASX 200 Futures were trading flat at 7385.5.
Among stocks, Materials were around 1.1% higher, as Rio Tinto Ltd (ASX:RIO) added 0.7%, BHP Billiton Ltd (ASX:BHP) gained 0.9%, Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (ASX:FMG) lifted 0.7%, Champion Iron Ltd (ASX:CIA) added 1.7%, Magnis Resources Ltd (ASX:MNS) gained 1%, Lake Resources NL (ASX:LKE) added 2%, Avz Minerals Ltd (ASX:AVZ) lifted 4.1%, Piedmont Lithium Ltd (ASX:PLL) rallied 9.2%, Lynas Rare Earths Ltd (ASX:LYC) gained 2.3% and Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX:PLS) lifted 3.4%
Gold miners were broadly higher. St Barbara Ltd (ASX:SBM) gained 1.5%, Gold Road Resources Ltd (ASX:GOR) added 0.3%, Newcrest Mining Ltd (ASX:NCM) lifted 2.4%, Northern Star Resources Ltd (ASX:NST) added 0.8%, Evolution Mining Ltd (ASX:EVN) lifted 0.9% and Chalice Gold Mines Ltd (ASX:CHN) added 1.5%.
Financials added 0.3% overall, with, Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX:MQG) up 1.2%, Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd (ASX:ANZ) lifting 0.3% and Commonwealth Bank Of Australia (ASX:CBA) up 0.1% while National Australia Bank Ltd (ASX:NAB) remained flat at 31.79 and Westpac Banking Corp (ASX:WBC) dipped 0.1%
Energy companies were also lifting, up 0.3% collectively, as Woodside Petroleum Ltd (ASX:WPL) added 0.6%, Santos Ltd (ASX:STO) gained 0.4%, Beach Energy Ltd (ASX:BPT) added 0.3% and Viva Energy Group Ltd (ASX:VEA) lifted 0.9%.
On the bond markets, Australia 10-Year yields were steady at 40-month highs of 2.774%, while United States 10-Year rates were at 34-month highs of 2.367%.
In new Zealand, the NZX 50 dipped 0.1% to 12,006.