The heavyweight financials sector added points with a 0.7 per cent rise, while real estate was the best performer, up 2 per cent. Commonwealth Bank added 0.9 per cent to $83.18, ANZ Bank was up 0.8 per cent, and Macquarie Group gained 1.2 per cent to $138.88.
Oanda’s senior market analyst in Asia Pacific, Jeffrey Halley, was surprised to see Asian markets remain positive after President Trump tweeted a video threatening to veto the stimulus bill that just passed the Senate, but still needs his signature.
“The market reaction in Asia has been surprisingly muted with most of the regions stock markets remaining in the green, even as US index futures sink this morning,” Mr Halley wrote in a note to clients.
“Asia’s first reaction appears to be that President Trump is bluffing, or that even if Trump vetos the fiscal stimulus, Congress will act quickly with the necessary votes. Given that many Congressional representatives have probably already left Washington DC for the holidays, that could be complacent. For now, markets appear to be holding of pressing the sell button until the situation clarifies.”
Futures were pointing to declines of about 0.1 per cent on Wall Street overnight.
Among the biggest movers on Wednesday was SmartGroup, which gained 7.6 per cent to $6.78 after a profit upgrade, and Mesoblast added 9.2 per cent to $2.37. Some travel stocks recovered as the Sydney COVID-19 appeared to be under control with Webjet up 4.6 per cent and Flight Centre up 4.5 per cent.
Stockland gained 3.6 per cent to $4.31 after announcing a new logistics property joint venture with JP Morgan.
