Reuters: Hot Stocks: Australian shares rally, strong Westpac earnings buoy financials

Reuters: Hot Stocks Reuters.com is your source for breaking news, business, financial and investing news, including personal finance and stocks. Reuters is the leading global provider of news, financial information and technology solutions to the world's media, financial institutions, businesses and individuals. // via fulltextrssfeed.com

Australian shares rally, strong Westpac earnings buoy financials May 3rd 2013, 00:31 Thu May 2, 2013 8:31pm EDT (Updates to open) SYDNEY May 3 (Reuters) - Australian shares rallied 0.9 percent on Friday, buoyed by strong bank earnings and supported by a cut in European interest rates to a record low and a positive lead from Wall Street. Westpac Banking Corp soared 2.1 percent to a record high of A$34.61 after Australia's third-largest lender, reported a forecast-beating 10 percent rise in first-half profit on Friday, as the bank's Australian business recorded double digit earnings growth. The strong earnings come on the heels of Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd posting similar stellar results this week, luring more buyers to an already sizzling financial sector. ANZ rose 0.4 percent. Commonwealth Bank of Australia also hit a record high after the top lender climbed 1.7 percent to A$73.76, while National Australia Bank climbed 1.2 percent to notch a 5-year high of A$34.25. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index climbed 45.9 points to 5,175.9 by 0014 GMT. The index fell 0.7 percent on Thursday as more soft economic data from China, Australia's biggest export market, weighed on sentiment. The news from overnight was slightly more upbeat, providing investors reason to buy back some of the beaten-down stocks. The European Central Bank cut interest rates for the first time in 10 months, by a quarter percentage point to a record low 0.50 percent, and held out the possibility of further policy action to support the recession-hit euro zone economy. U.S. stocks closed about 1 percent higher on Thursday, led by tech shares, after weekly jobless claims figures pointed to improving labor market conditions a day before the closely watched monthly payroll report. New Zealand's benchmark NZX 50 index fell 0.8 percent, or 35.8 points to 4,538.7. (Reporting by Thuy Ong; Editing by Shri Navaratnam) Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

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