The Australian market ended the half-day pre-Christmas trading session on Thursday on a buoyant mood with miners and banks lifted the market sentiment, taking cues from Wall Street where the major averages managed to end in positive territory with marginal gains despite weak economic data related to existing home sales. Volume was relatively less on the eve of Christmas.
The benchmark S&P/ASX200 Index advanced 51.60 points, or 1.09% to close at 4,791, while the All-Ordinaries Index ended at 4,803, representing a gain of 47.20 points, or 0.99%.
Light sweet crude oil futures for February delivery ended at $77.32 a barrel in electronic trading, up $0.65 per barrel from previous close at $76.67 a barrel in New York on Wednesday.
Resource related stocks led the gains after the commodity prices, including oil, rose in the international market.
Among mining and metal stocks, BHP Billiton advanced 1.31%, Rio Tinto edged up 0.30%, Fortescue Metals remained unchanged from previous close, Gindalbie Metals added 0.50%, Mincor Resources climbed 3.48%, and Oz Minerals gained 1.30%.
Oil stocks also gained following rise in crude oil prices. Woodside Petroleum added 0.30%, Oil Search gained 1.30% and Origin Energy advanced 0.49%. However, Santos bucked the trend and slipped 0.29%.
Gold stocks also ended in positive territory. Lihir Gold climbed 2.84% and Newcrest Mining added 0.51%.
Banks also ended higher. ANZ Bank rose 3.13%, Commonwealth Bank of Australia gained 1.64%, National Australia Bank advanced 1.35% and Westpac Banking climbed 2.88%.
Among telecom stocks, Telstra gained 0.90% and Singapore Telecommunications remained unchanged from previous close.
Mixed trading was witnessed among retail stocks. While David Jones declined 0.93% and JB Hi-Fi slipped 0.49%, Harvey Norman remained unchanged at previous close. Woolworths edged up 0.26% and Wesfarmers advanced 0.67%.
In the U.S., stocks were able to scrounge together modest gains on Wednesday, as a mixed batch of economic data and light volume limited notable moves in the equity markets. The major averages all closed in positive territory, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq seeing the strongest outing. The Dow edged up by about a point on the day, while the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 reached new one-year closing highs. The Dow edged up 1.36 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 10,466, the Nasdaq advanced 16.97 points or 0.8% to 2,270 and the S&P 500 rose by 2.57 points or 0.2% to 1,121.
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June 12, 2026 17:14 ET Major central bank action was the focus this week in economic news. The European Central Bank became the first major central bank to move in response to the rising inflationary pressures in the backdrop of the conflict in the Middle East. In North America, the U.S. inflation and trade data as well as Canada’s central bank decision gained attention. The Chinese trade data was the main news in Asia.