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Market:	ASX 200
Sector:	Investments and Funds
EPIC:	XJO

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Australia Market Wrap

A summary of all the major stories on the Australian Stock Exchange

Resource shares keep Australian market at 2 month high

Wednesday, January 07, 2009 by Proactiveinvestors

Local shares benefitted from higher commodity prices, particularly copper and nickel as resources companies, large and small registered large trading volumes on confidence about fiscal stimulis by governments, despite a lack-lustre lead from Wall Street. Pent-up demand from investors was also evident in buying patterns today with a move away from cash assets to riskier assets. Whether the market and smaller resource stocks can continue at this pace is un-certain and a divide between physical demand and supply of many commodities and share price gains seems to be evident.

The Japanese sharemarket gained for the seventh straight day, while Hong Kong fell slightly.

The S&P/ASX 200 closed up 37 points, or 1 per cent, at 3779.7, after reaching 3817.9 earlier in the day.

Miners surge in huge trade – big and small

A rebound in metal prices pushed most mining stocks higher. BHP Billiton (ASX:BHP)was up 90 cents, or 2.8%, to $32.60, Rio Tinto (ASX:RIO) rocketed $3.51, or 8.0%, to $46.93, Fortescue Metals (ASX:FMG) added 13 cents, or 6.1%, to $2.27 and Mirabela Nickel (ASX:MBN) added 30 cents, or 23.5%, to $1.60.

Gold stocks were down as gold retreated overnight, as Lihir Gold (ASX:LGL) gave up 3 cents, or 1.1%, to $2.61 and Newcrest Mining (ASX:NCM) lost $1.91 cents, or 6.0%, to $26.69.

Oil stocks were slightly higher, Santos (ASX:STO) was up 7 cents, or 0.5%, to $15.21 and Woodside Petroleum (ASX:WPL) was up 16 cents, or 0.4%, to $38.77.

Bank stocks mostly down, except Macquarie Group

Bank stocks were mostly weaker as ANZ Bank (ASX:ANZ) lost 5 cents, or 0.3%, to $15.35, Commonwealth Bank (ASX:CBA) was down 52 cents, or 1.8%, to $28.95, NAB (ASX:NAB) bucked the trend and rose 15 cents, or 0.7%, to $20.89 and Westpac (ASX:WBC)lost 16 cents, or 0.9%, to $16.87. Macquarie Group (ASX:MQG) rocketed $2.69, or 8.7%, to $33.75.
Wesfarmers (ASX:WES) jumped 5.9 per cent to $19.47.

The Australian dollar jumped to a three month high to 72.49 US cents.

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