The Australian market ended Wednesday's trading session in positive territory, lifted by better-than-expected GDP data for the April-June quarter revealed by the Statistics Bureau. The economy grew nearly two-fold in the April-June quarter by 1.2% compared to 0.7% growth in the preceding Jan-March quarter, the report revealed. Mixed closing near the unchanged line in Wall Street during the previous session, reflecting signs of resilience, also impacted market sentiment. Banks, resource and retailer stocks led the gains in the market.
The benchmark S&P/ASX200 Index surged up 91.50 points, or 2.08%, and closed at 4,496 points, while the All-Ordinaries Index ended at 4,527, representing a gain of 88.00 points, or 1.98%.
On the economic front, a report released by the Australian Industry Group/Price WaterhouseCoopers revealed that activity in the country's manufacturing sector continued to expand in August, but at a slower pace than in July. The AIG /Price WaterhouseCoopers' Performance of Manufacturers index declined 2.7 points to a reading of 51.7, signaling the eighth straight month of expansion in the sector. Readings above 50.0 indicate expansion of activity in the surveyed sector.
Data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics revealed that the economy grew 1.2% between April and June, almost twice as fast as the 0.7% expansion in the first three months of the year. Economists expected the economy to rise 0.9% in the latest quarter. The data further noted that the economy economy grew 3.3% on a year-over-year basis, again beating expectations for a 2.8% rise. The Bureau stated that the terms of trade rose 12.5% and real gross domestic income rose 4%. On the expenditure side, the main positive contributors to GDP were household final consumption expenditure and net exports. On the production side, construction and mining were the largest positive contributors.
Light sweet crude oil futures for October delivery ended at $72.53 a barrel in electronic trading, up $0.61 per barrel from previous close at $71.92 a barrel in New York on Tuesday.
Mining and metal stocks ended in positive territory on optimism about sustaining growth in the domestic economy. BHP Billiton gained 2.32%, Rio Tinto climbed 3.07%, Fortescue Metals surged up 5.13%, Gindalbie Metals rose 2.25%, Iluka Resources advanced 0.90%, Macarthur Coal was up 2.30%, Mincor Resources increased 4.05%, and Oz Minerals soared 4.05%.
Oil related stocks also ended higher. Woodside Petroleum gained 2.46%, Santos Ltd added 0.63%, ROC Oil climbed 4.17%, Oil Search Ltd advanced 0.68% and Origin Energy climbed 1.70%.
Banking stocks also advanced on buoyant economic data. ANZ Bank climbed 2.43%, Commonwealth Bank rose 2.01%, National Australia Bank gained 2.80% and Westpac Banking was up 3.00%. Investment banking company Macquarie Group ended in positive territory with a modest gain of 0.91%.
Retailers also gained on positive GDP data for the April-June quarter. David Jones added 1.01%, Harvey Norman advanced 1.16%, JB Hi-Fi gained 1.06%, Reject Shop climbed 2.12%, Wesfarmer rose 2.38% and Woolworths was up by 1.69%.
In the U.S., stocks turned in a lackluster performance to close out the month of August on Tuesday, with the lack of any substantive clues regarding the direction of the economy from the Federal Reserve contributing to the choppy trading on the day. The major averages gave up earlier upside and turned mixed following the report, lingering near the flat line for the remainder of the session. While the Nasdaq slipped 5.94 points or 0.3% to 2,114, the Dow edged up 4.99 points or less than 0.1% to 10,015 and the S&P 500 rose 0.41 points or less than 0.1% to 1,049.
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June 05, 2026 16:18 ET A busy week for economic news flow saw a slew of reports being released that reflected the trends in the U.S. labor market. In Europe, economic growth and inflation data gained attention as the European Central Bank and Bank of England head for policy session later in the month. In Asia, the monetary policy session of the Indian central bank was in focus as the country, a major oil importer, reels under the pressures of a weaker rupee and rising inflation.