Business News
Aussie shares gain more than 0.6%
by Andrew Newton Brown
Australian shares closed higher today with the S&P/ASX 200 and All Ords up over 0.6 per cent.
The S&P/ASX 200 gained 27.3 points or 0.66 per cent to 4171.
The All Ords increased 27.7 points or 0.65 per cent to 4262.1.
Among the major miners, BHP Billiton increased $0.25 or 0.73 per cent to $34.30 and Rio Tinto was $0.24 or 0.38 per cent higher to $62.66.
To financials, ANZ put on $0.04 or 0.18 per cent to $21.79, CBA was $0.38 or 0.8 per cent higher to $48.04, NAB gained $0.31 or 1.34 per cent to $23.38 and Westpac was up $0.11 or 0.54 per cent to $20.41.
In energy, Woodside Petroleum increased $0.66 or 1.88 per cent to $35.70, Santos put on $0.54 or 3.97 per cent to $14.14 and Oil Search was up $0.16 or 2.31 per cent to $7.08.
And to the retailers, Woolworths lost $0.07 or 0.28 per cent to $25.08, while Wesfarmers gained $0.07 or 0.24 per cent to $28.65.
In news, Australia’s unemployment rate rose to 5.2 per cent in February from 5.1 per cent. The number of people employed fell by 15,400.
To Asia and the Nikkei was 157.61 points or 1.65 per cent higher to 9733.67 and the Hang Seng was up 189.38 points or 0.92 per cent to 20,817.16.
The Australian dollar was buying 106.11 US cents, 67.2 pence Sterling, 80.5 euro cents and 86.19 Japanese yen.
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Published on: Thursday, March 08, 2012
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