The minutes of the last FOMC meeting were released this morning and Bernanke is trying to put a lid on speculation that the Fed will cut stimulus spending prematurely. He has again reiterated that the Fed are waiting for economic factors before spending will be wound back. US futures, along with the currencies were the first to react. The run in the futures market was the positive lead we needed heading into our open. The majority of stocks surged higher, driving the ASX200 up 1.31% to finish on the high of the day, 4965. Leading the way, surprisingly enough, were materials (+3.42%), and particularly gold stocks. Newcrest mining jumped 11.56%, Evolution Mining (+20%) along with most of the other gold diggers rebounded significantly after a strong run on commodities overnight. The other large miners also enjoyed some gains. BHP (+3.17%), RIO (3.68%), FMG (+2.7%) 8 of the 10 industry sectors finished in the green, Consumer Staples and Health Care the only ones to finish in the red, albeit only marginally, both down 0.07%.
Posted on: Thu, 11 Jul 2013 10:06:41 +0000