With the Reserve Bank of Australia today cutting interest rates a further 25 basis points, investors have headed back into stocks on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX).
The S&P/ASX200 closed up 48.2 points, or 0.58%, at 8,343.3 points today (20 May).
Over the past week, the index has advanced 0.91% and is 3.16% away from its 52-week high.
Eight of the 11 sectors ended in positive territory. Information technology surged 2.3%, the financial sector jumped 0.79% and industrials climbed 0.53%. Energy and materials, however, fell 0.15% and 0.12%, respectively.
Liontown Resources (ASX:LTR) held onto its gains to finish up 4.42% at $0.71 and South32 (ASX:S32) climbed 4.08% to $3.06.
Meanwhile, Bellevue Gold (ASX:BGL) ended the session down 3.41% at $0.85 and mining services firm NRW Holdings (ASX:NWH) slipped 2.17% to $2.71.
At the smaller end of the market, MTM Critical Metals (ASX:MTM) rallied 17.39% to $0.27, while Bougainville Copper (ASX:BOC) gained 11.76% to close at $0.38. The company received a price query from the ASX after it hit $0.395 today.
GreenX Metals (ASX:GRX) climbed 8.61% to $0.82 and Canyon Resources (ASX:CAY) advanced 7.41% to $0.29. The company revealed yesterday major shareholder Eagle Eye Asset Holdings had exercised 350 million options, providing Canyon with a $24.5 million cash injection.
The S&P/ASX200 is Australia’s leading share market index and contains the top 200 ASX-listed companies in terms of market capitalisation, and accounts for about 80% of the country’s equity market. The index is designed to measure the performance of the 200 largest index-eligible stocks listed on the ASX by float-adjusted market capitalisation.
It is recognised as the institutional investable benchmark in the country.
Write to Angela East at Mining.com.au
Images: ASX & Stock
