Australia Market surges 1.2%; energy, mining stocks lead

Australian share market finished session sharp higher on Monday, 18 July 2022, on tracking Wall Street's rebound on Friday, thanks to upbeat earnings news and strong economic data

Market rally led by shares of energy sector after crude oil extended Friday's gains on dollar weakness and signs of tight supplies.

At closing bell, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 advanced 81.57 points, or 1.23%, to 6,687.14. The broader All Ordinaries index added 90 points, or 1.32%, to 6,887.98.

The top performing stocks in the S&P/ASX200 index were PENDAL GROUP and LIONTOWN RESOURCES, up 9.3% and 8.4% respectively. The bottom performing stocks in this index were APPEN and KELSIAN GROUP, down 3.2% and 2.9% respectively.

Total 8 of 11 sectors ended higher along with the S&P/ASX 200 Index. Information Technology was the best performing sector, gaining +2.85%, followed by materials (up 2.4%) and energy (up 2.2%).

Shares of energy sector rallied strongly after crude oil extended Friday's gains on dollar weakness and signs of tight supplies. Woodside Energy and Santos gained over 2% each.

Suncorp soared 6.1% after Australia and New Zealand Bank announced a $4.9 billion acquisition of Suncorp Bank banking business. Shares of the latter were in a trading halt. ANZ will use a combination of its existing capital and proceeds from a $3.5 billion equity raise ($18.90 offer price) to fund the acquisition. ANZ expects the acquisition to be completed towards the back end of 2023 (H2CY23), following approval from the Federal Treasurer and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).

Whitehaven Coal (WHC) shares climbed up 5% after announcing 21% quarterly increase in its run-of-mine production, and a 19% quarterly lift in its total managed coal sales. WHC currently stands at a net cash position of $1 billion, and expects FY22 EBITDA to be around $3 billion.

CURRENCY NEWS: The U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 107.401, falling after rising above 109 last week. The Australian dollar was at $0.6834.

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