By Oliver Gray
Investing.com - The S&P/ASX 200 added 55.60 points or 0.73% to 7,620.80 in the first hour of Wednesday’s trade, extending gains of 0.4% in the previous session as health care companies rallied following news of Ramsay Health Care's (ASX:RHC) takeover offer from global private equity giant KKR & Co LP (NYSE:KKR).
ASX 200 Futures were pointing 0.1% lower.
Among stocks, Health Care led the gains, up 2.8% collectively as Ramsay Health Care Ltd (ASX:RHC) surged 27.4%, CSL Ltd (ASX:CSL) added 1.9%, Sonic Healthcare Ltd (ASX:SHL) gained 3%, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare Ltd (ASX:FPH) lifted 2.1% and Resmed Inc DRC (ASX:RMD) gained 2.2%.
Real-estate companies were 1.2% higher as Mirvac Group (ASX:MGR) gained 0.8%, Charter Hall Group (ASX:CHC) added 1.5% and Goodman Group (ASX:GMG) lifted 2.6%.
Financials also gained 0.8% overall, with Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX:MQG) up 1.4%, Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd (ASX:ANZ) adding 1.2%, National Australia Bank Ltd (ASX:NAB) lifting 0.9% and Commonwealth Bank Of Australia (ASX:CBA) up 0.6%.
Meantime, Materials fell 0.8% as BHP Billiton Ltd (ASX:BHP) fell 0.9%, Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (ASX:FMG) lost 0.4% and Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX:PLS) shed 1.7%. Rio Tinto Ltd (ASX:RIO) also slumped 2% after revealing weaker than expected quarterly production numbers.
On the bond markets, Australia 10-Year rates were at fresh 7-year highs of 3.133% while United States 10-Year yields were at fresh 40-month highs of 2.973%.
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 added 0.4% to 11,885.