Reuters: Hot Stocks: Australia shares rally, at fresh 20-month high

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Australia shares rally, at fresh 20-month high Jan 22nd 2013, 00:49 Tweet Share this Email Print Mon Jan 21, 2013 7:49pm EST (Adds details, comments, stocks on the move) SYDNEY, Jan 22 (Reuters) - Australian shares rose 0.4 percent to a fresh 20-month high on Tuesday, headed by the mining and financials sectors and supported by a solid lead from Europe. Investors will keep an eye on the outcome of the Bank of Japan's policy meeting which is expected to announce aggressive asset buying plans to stimulate the economy. "As Japan is our biggest regional market, subdued news from the Bank of Japan could mute our current rally," said Evan Lucas, market analyst at IG Markets. Global miners BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto Ltd were up 0.6 percent and 1.4 percent respectively. Banks were mostly firmer, with Westpac Banking Corp up 0.6 percent, although National Australia Bank eased 0.4 percent on a report that Spanish bank Santander denied speculation it is interested in buying NAB's troubled British banks. The S&P/ASX 200 index was 16.8 points higher at 4,794.3 by 0029 GMT. The benchmark inched up 0.1 percent to 4,777.5 on Monday. "We didn't get much of a lead from global markets last night because the U.S. market was closed," said Steven Daghlian, market analyst at Commonwealth Securities. "We've taken a lead from the European markets more so. We're still up for the fifth consecutive session and we're up 3 percent or so for 2013, so off to quite a positive start." Defensives were strong, with blood products maker CSL Ltd up 0.7 percent and Australia's no.1 telecommunications provider Telstra inching up 0.1 percent. Food retailers Wesfarmers Ltd and Woolworths Ltd climbed 0.5 percent and 0.7 percent respectively. New Zealand's benchmark NZX 50 index slipped 0.2 percent or 6.8 points to 4,178.4. STOCKS ON THE MOVE * Macmahon Holdings surged 7.8 percent to A$0.28 after the Australian mining services company was awarded a A$1.8 billion ($1.89 billion) contract by Fortescue Metals Group Ltd . (0025 GMT) * Perseus Mining Ltd dropped 3.7 percent to A$1.88 on the back of a disappointing production report which showed gold production was 13 percent below revised production guidance range for the quarter. (0025 GMT) (Reporting by Thuy Ong; Editing by Richard Pullin) Tweet this Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints We welcome comments that advance the story through relevant opinion, anecdotes, links and data. If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of Reuters. For more information on our comment policy, see http://blogs.reuters.com/fulldisclosure/2010/09/27/toward-a-more-thoughtful-conversation-on-stories/ Comments (0) Be the first to comment on reuters.com. Add yours using the box above.

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