- Broad-based gains see NZ, Aussie shares hit 1-week highs
- Energy stocks surge on rising oil prices
- BHP jumps to 11-week high
Australian shares rose sharply in light end-of-year trade on Thursday, following a strong Wall Street rebound and as a surge in oil prices pushed energy stocks higher.
On Wall Street overnight, the Dow Jones Industrial Average surged more than 1,000 points for the first time in a dramatic rebound. All three major indices notched their largest daily percentage gains in nearly a decade by the close.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index (xjo) climbed as much as 1.5 percent to its biggest intra-day percentage gain in nearly one month.
The benchmark was 1.4 percent higher at 5,571.9 by 0010 GMT, a one-week high. On Monday, the benchmark closed 0.5 percent higher in a shortened Christmas eve trading session. The market was closed on Tuesday and Wednesday for the Christmas and Boxing Day public holidays.
"You've got the biggest (Wall Street) points gain of all time, so that's going to raise everything," said Mathan Somasundaram, a Blue Ocean Equities market portfolio strategist.
"Everyone's bouncing on that and there will be a fair amount of short covering on the big caps."
Miner BHP (BHP) jumped 3 percent to a more than 11-week high, mirroring broad gains across mining stocks, with the sector's sub-index .AXMM up over 2 percent.
Energy stocks .AXEJ were among the biggest gainers, as oil surged on Wednesday to its strongest daily gain in more than two years. This follows a period of steep losses that pushed crude benchmarks to lows not seen since 2017.
Woodside Petroleum (WPL) added as much as 3.9 percent, marking its biggest intra-day gain since May.
Both Santos (STO) and Oil Search (OSH) rose as much as 4.4 percent and 2.9 percent, respectively, their biggest gains in over three weeks.
Financial stocks .AXFJ , the benchmark's largest constituent, rose 0.9 percent, with embattled wealth manager AMP (AMP) up 3 percent.
The industry has struggled this year with widespread revelations of misconduct that surfaced during a damaging national inquiry into the sector.
New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index (nz50) rose 0.9 percent, or 79.9 points, to 8,794.41, its biggest intraday percentage gain in four weeks.
A 3.8 percent jump in a2 Milk Company (ATM) helped lift the index to a one-week high.
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