Australian shares are up today, gaining 36.00 points or 0.43% to 8,429.80.
The day’s winners were Guzman y Gomez Ltd and Zip (ASX:ZIP) Co Ltd (ASX:ZIP, OTC:ZIZTF), up 4.79% and 4.67% respectively.
Over the last five days, the index has gained 1.75% and is currently 0.38% off its 52-week high.
There was only one sector pointing in the wrong direction in afternoon trade – Financials – and that was only down 0.05%, but Materials had caught up and took over by close of play, dragging the markets by 0.38%.
All the other sectors were in the black or scooting ahead around 2pm, following the lead of Real Estate (up 2.07%), Consumer Discretionary (up 1.66%) and Health Care (up 1.35%).
“Global stocks continue to hit new highs, and this risk-on rally will probably persist into year-end provided we keep hearing better-than-expected economic news,” moomoo Australia market analyst Jessica Amir said.
Black Friday momentum
“Note that stocks generally gain momentum ahead of Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
“Meanwhile, Bitcoin has stalled for the second day, settling back at US$97,000, but bets remain strong for BTC to hit $100,000. In the US last week, the S&P 500 rose 1.7%, the Nasdaq gained 1.9%, while the small-cap index, the Russell 2000, outperformed with a 4.4% increase.
“This suggests investors are feeling bullish, aggressive and ready to take on risk. Sentiment was further buoyed on Friday when US jobless claims were weaker than expected.
“Additionally, President-elect Donald Trump appointed a pro-Wall Street hedge fund executive as Treasury Secretary, which investors welcomed as a favourable development.
“Closer to home, Australia’s ASX 200 rose 1.3% last week, hitting a record high. Can the market keep setting new records? The answer is probably yes. Commodity prices are trending higher, which supports the overall ASX. Last week, gold prices rose 6%, and iron ore gained 4%.
“Demand expectations for industrial metals from China is improving, lifting iron ore and benefiting Australia’s biggest companies. As for gold, bets are on for it to hit new highs due to investors continuing focus on safety amid lingering geopolitical tensions and growing concerns about global debt.
“Globally, the best-performing stocks last week were uranium-focused. In the US, Vistra and Constellation Energy (NASDAQ:CEG) rose more than 11% each. These gains stem from reduced uranium supply from Russia and increasing demand from major tech companies such as Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL), which is still in its early stages.
"On the ASX, uranium stocks such as Paladin and Deep Yellow followed suit, rising 10% each. Uranium, alongside gold and other industrial metals, will continue to drive gains, further supporting the broad market rally.”
Small cap movers
Among the positive movers in the small-cap sector were Alto Metals Ltd (ASX:AME), which reached $0.094, up 13.26% on the previous close, Titan Minerals Ltd (ASX:TTM, OTC:TTTNF) was 9.76% higher to $0.145, American Rare Earths Ltd (ASX:ARR, OTCQB:ARRNF) hit $0.285, an increase of 9.62% and Altech Batteries Ltd (ASX:ATC, OTC:ALTHF) lifted 8.7% to $0.05.
Other gainers were Astral (JO:ARLJ) Resources NL (ASX:AAR), which rose 7.69% on the previous close to $0.14, Anteris Technologies Ltd (ASX:AVR, OTC:AMEUF) reached $9.79, an increase of 5.27%, Orthocell was up 4.88% to $0.645, Brookside Energy Ltd (ASX:BRK, OTC:RDFEF) increased 3.16% to $0.49 and Tolu Minerals Ltd (ASX:TOK) hit $0.935, a rise of 2.75%.
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