CANBERRA: Australian shares gained 0.5 percent on Friday in the first trading day of 2015, buoyed by industrials and mining companies. The S&P/ASX 200 index closed 24.8 points higher at 5,435.9 in thin trade as many investors have yet to return from their New Year holidays. Weighed down by falling commodity prices, the benchmark rose a mere 1 percent in 2014 compared with the robust gains in the previous two years.
New Zealand markets were closed on Friday. Its benchmark share index gained nearly 18 percent last year. The benchmark rose a mere 1 percent in 2014 compared with the robust gains in the previous two years, largely due to the tumble in commodity prices in recent months.
Miners were in the black, supported by last week’s bounce in prices of iron ore, Australia’s top export earner. Atlas Iron led the charge with a 33 percent rise, while Fortescue Metals Group rose 4.3 percent and Rio Tinto was up 0.6 percent. “Investors may have felt the price of Atlas Iron fell too far (last year). It was one of the worst performers in the ASX 200 – down 85 percent- and there may be some repositioning,” said Juliana Roadley, market analyst at Commonwealth Securities. Tiger Resources jumped 6 percent after a media report quoted the company head as saying the copper miner had options to refinance short-term debt. The energy sector was also stronger with Whitehaven and Drillsearch both up more than 2 percent. The “big four” banks – Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Westpac Banking Corp, ANZ Banking Group and National Australia Bank – were slightly lower.
