The Australian sharemarket marked its fifth consecutive day of gains on Wednesday for “a good day overall” in the wake of the federal budget which encouraged a risk-on sentiment from investors.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 gained 56.50 points or 0.71 per cent to 7999 points at the closing bell, while the broader All Ordinaries was up 58.40 points or 0.72 per cent to sit at 8225.20 points.
The Aussie dollar was up 0.03 per cent, trading at US63.08c.
Ten of 11 sectors closed in the green with banks and miners leading the rally while healthcare was the only one in the red.
Bullish investor sentiment was spurred on by Tuesday’s unremarkable federal budget as well as Wednesday’s CPI data coming in cooler at 2.7 per cent instead of the expected 2.8 per cent, pointing towards a May rate cut.
“The overarching focus for the day is that the budget is not going to worry the RBA – the rate cuts are going to continue,” eToro market analyst Josh Gilbert said.
“The CPI reading has been good – it’s better than we expected – and that’s helped us lead the market higher today.
“I don’t think the budget has given too much to the market but I certainly think it has helped ease some fears of it maybe contributing to an inflationary budget.”
The big four banks soared off the back of CPI data.
Commonwealth Bank rose 1.07 per cent to $150.23, Westpac gained 1.15 per cent to $31.44, NAB lifted 0.68 per cent to $33.98 and ANZ climbed 2.97 per cent to $29.44.
A $750m government support package backing metal manufacturers positively flowed on to the material sector.
BHP added 1.22 per cent to $39.52, Fortescue was up 0.74 per cent to $16.21 and Rio Tinto rose 0.99 per cent to $119.96.
The lithium and renewable energy provider Vulcan Energy surged 12.84 per cent on Wednesday to $5.36 after their Lionhart lithium project was acknowledged by the European Commission as crucial to securing the continent’s minerals supply chain.
A modest weekly tax cut of about $5.15 per person from next year lightly boosted the consumer discretionary sector, according to Mr Gilbert.
The healthcare sector was “under a little bit of pressure” and finished in the red.
“But some of the names were pretty positive because there was some announcement around spending on hospital funding and disability (in the budget),” Mr Gilbert said.
CSL Limited dragged 1.51 per cent to $252.92 and Pro Medicus slipped 0.94 per cent to $227.74 while Fisher & Paykel Healthcare jumped 5.02 per cent to $31.81.
US President Donald Trump’s tariffs remain a “whipsaw” as he continues “two-stepping in between easing of tariffs and going lighter on some countries”, Mr Gilbert said.
“We’ll continue to probably see sell-offs in the market but we’ll also continue to see these relief rallies that we’re getting when he maybe rolls back on some things that he’s already said.”
The biggest winner was gold miner Ramelius Resources, up 6.05 per cent to $2.28 upgraded by Macquarie, following their $2.4bn deal to acquire smaller rival Spartan Resources.
The biggest loser was Paladin Energy which tumbled 11.58 per cent to $5.65 when heavy rainfall disrupted production at a Namibia mine and caused the company to withdraw their 2025 production forecast.