On Thursday the Australian share market has reached its longest winning streak in more than 11 years, with the financial sector driving its latest day of gains.
The market climbed by almost 0.6%, marking its 11th straight session in positive territory, as market sentiment was backed by Tuesday’s reduction in the Reserve bank cash rate.
“We haven’t seen that sort of winning streak since October 2003,” CommSec market analyst Steven Daghlian said.
Poor retail sales figures for December did not have much impact on the market, as the ASX 200 benchmark index rose 33.7 points, or 0.58%, to a new seven-year high of 5,811.
The Australian dollar stood at US77.72c on Thursday evening, down from US78.40c on Wednesday.
The financial sector led the day in the stock market, pushing Commonwealth Bank, Westpac and ANZ to new record highs.
“The cash rate cut on Tuesday has made higher yielding stocks more attractive,” Daghlian said as investors pull money out of cash and seek the rich returns offered by the big banks.
Commonwealth Bank rose 2.7%, to $93.27, Westpac added 21c to $36.44, ANZ rose 36c to $34.98 and National Bank was 47c higher at $36.97.
NAB was helped by a 6% rise in quarterly profit to $1.65bn announced on Thursday. Macquarie Group also performed well, adding 68c to $65.53.
Tumbling oil and iron ore prices led energy and mining sectors down.
Retail trade rose 0.2% in December, official figures showed, which was short of economists’ expectations, but was stronger than the 0.1% rise in November.
The result was weighed down by a 0.9% fall in department store spending and a 0.4% fall in the household goods category, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Thursday.
CommSec economist Savanth Sebastian said the result was soft and signifies why the Reserve Bank is looking to stimulate the economy.
“It certainly suggest that that consumers aren’t out there spending in droves, despite an improving economic climate,” he said.
