The stockmarket boom of the first two months of the year is set to continue into the second trading day of March after another surge offshore, especially in the US, on top of yesterday’s 0.6% jump to new seven year highs.
That took the rise so far in 2015 to 10%, with, it seems, more to come, especially if the Reserve Bank cuts interest rates for a second successive month later today.
In fact the ASX could very well break through the 6,000 barrier for the first time since before the GFC with the overnight futures market suggesting a near 30 point rise at the opening this morning in Australia.
Most markets in Asia and Europe rose yesterday and overnight (although the UK was flat after hitting 17 year high late last week).
On Wall Street the Nasdaq ended above the 5,000 point level (5,008) for a gain of nearly 1% on the day. It was the first time above 5,000 for the key tech index in 15 years.
The Dow jumped more than 150 points or nearly 0.9% to 18,288, while the S&P 500 rose 0.6% to 2,117 points.
The ASX 200 ended up 30 points at 5958.9 yesterday after touching 5983. The close was the highest since January 2008.
The local market was up 6.1% in February and 3.3% in January, so the gain so far in 2015 is 10%, with more to come it seems.
The ASX has comprehensively outperformed all of 2014 and its puny 1% rise.
Two of the biggest companies on the ASX, BHP Billiton and the Commonwealth Bank rose strongly yesterday rallied in tandem while Westpac shares hit a record high.
Helping drive sentiment was the surprise interest rate in China at the weekend, and better than expected growth in the Chinese manufacturing sector last month in the final reading of the HSBC/Markit index.
China’s surprise rate cut and the improvement in the final survey of manufacturing from HSBC/Markit saw investors push BHP Billiton shares up 1.4% to $34.12, and Rio Tinto up 1.9% to $65.60.
The big four banks were all stronger as high-yielding stocks continue to benefit from low interest rates.
The Commonwealth Bank of was up 0.7% to $92.55 (after cracking the $93 a share level again), while Westpac shares were up 0.8% to a record-high $38.29.
ANZ shares rose 1% to within to $35.70, and National Australia Bank added 1.1% to multi-year highs of $38.32.
Telstra shares rose 0.8% to $6.42.
