Australian shares rose for a third straight session on Friday as investors weighed economic consequences of the US Federal Reserve's aggressive interest rate stance.
The ASX 200 was up 44 points, or 0.6 per cent, to 7,294, with mining and energy stocks leading the advance.
The benchmark index has gained 3.3 per cent this week, posting its best week in more than a year.
AMP's chief economist Shane Oliver noted that the share market's rebound was helped by optimism about a peace deal in Ukraine, a fall back in oil prices, relief from the expected US Fed’s rate hike and stimulus indications in China.
"So, Ukraine-related risks for investment markets remain high in the short term."
Jessica Amir, market strategist from Saxo Markets, observed that the end-of-quarter gains are likely to be short lived.
"Portfolio rebalancing from now to the end of quarter is likely to take place, where fund managers bring asset allocations back into alignment, meaning commodity darlings that have gone up the most this year are likely to see some profit taking or selling," she said.
Miners climbed 1.5 per cent on strong iron ore prices, but were set for a second straight weekly drop weighed down by gyrating commodity prices.
Sector heavyweights Rio Tinto, Fortescue Metals Group and BHP Group rose between 1.3 per cent and 2.2 per cent.
Liontown Resources soared 7.8 per cent to $1.7.
Energy stocks gained nearly 2.2 per cent on surging oil prices amid fears of supply shortage in the coming weeks due to sanctions on Russia.
Paladin Energy (+7pc) and Beach Energy (+1.6pc) were among the top movers.
Major oil and gas explorers Woodside Petroleum and Santos advanced 2.7 per cent and 1.9 per cent respectively.
Technology stocks (+1.6pc) tracked their US peers higher, with Block Inc jumping 7.2 per cent while WiseTech Global up 3.3 per cent.
Financials were up 0.4 per cent, resulting in a four-day winning streak.
Healthcare stocks were flat (+0.1pc), dragged down by a 0.1 per cent drop in biotech giant CSL.
Qube Holdings was flat at $3, after the ACCC said it would not pursue enforcement action in relation to Qube’s acquisition of Newcastle Agri Terminal (NAT), but remains concerned with potential impacts on the supply chain for bulk grain export through the Port of Newcastle.
The ACCC also said it would continue to monitor developments in the industry.
Megaport and Abacus Property dropped 8.1 per cent and 5.9 per cent respectively.
Star Entertainment shares were down 3.6 per cent to $3.2 after media reports on money laundering allegations, hitting their lowest level since late 2020.
Wall St closes higher as worries ease around Fed, Russian default
All three of Wall Street's major indexes closed higher, up more than 1 per cent, on Thursday.
Investors were reassured that Russia may, at least for now, have averted what would have been its first external bond default in a century.
This was because creditors received payment, in dollars, of Russian bond coupons which fell due this week, two market sources told Reuters on Thursday.
That outcome added to risk appetites in a market that was benefiting from some bargain-hunting.
The Fed had raised interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point on Wednesday, as expected, and forecast an aggressive plan for further hikes, while policymakers also trimmed economic growth projections for the year.
Russia's payment news and a breaking of technical decline lines "to the upside" in indices — including the S&P and the Nasdaq — all boosted stocks, according to Michael James, managing director of equity trading at Wedbush Securities.
"People have gotten more comfortable with the fact rates are going higher. This has been talked about, ad nauseum, [by Fed] chairman [Jerome] Powell since early December.
"The fact there were no significant negative surprises in the Fed's plans coming out of the meeting, and Powell's commentary, gave people a sense that maybe we've seen as bad as it's going to get in the near term."
Describing the Fed's plans as dovish, Phil Blancato, chief executive of Ladenburg Thalmann Asset Management in New York also said the continuation of Russia-Ukraine peace talks helped the mood.
"There's a potential resolution for the conflict overseas, the positive effects of the Federal Reserve and stocks at a very fair entry point, providing an opportunity to add risk."
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.23 per cent, to 34,480.76, the S&P 500 gained 1.23 per cent to 4,411.67 and the Nasdaq Composite added 1.33 per cent to 13,614.78.
BoE raises rates back to pre-pandemic level
European stocks also gained in choppy trading after the Fed's rate hike and a similar move by the Bank of England.
The Bank of England raised interest rates again on Thursday in a bid to stop fast-rising inflation becoming entrenched, but it softened its language on the need for more increases as households face a huge hit from soaring energy bills.
Eight of the nine Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) members voted to raise Bank Rate to 0.75 per cent from 0.5 per cent, taking the benchmark for UK borrowing costs back to its pre-pandemic level.
The British central bank has now raised rates at three consecutive meetings for the first time since 1997.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index rose 0.5 per cent, while MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe gained 1.5 per cent.
Meanwhile, the London Metal Exchange (LME) was hit by more glitches early Thursday, which delayed the open and saw nickel futures dropping by 8 per cent limit.
The fresh chaos came after a Chinese billionaire's short bet on nickel forcing the LME to shut down on Tuesday.
Oil prices rose more than 8 per cent, continuing a series of wild daily swings, as the market rebounded from several days of losses on renewed focus on supply shortages in coming weeks due to sanctions on Russia.
Benchmark Brent crude futures gained 2 per cent, to $US108.8 a barrel.
The Australian dollar was up, at 73.95 US cents.
Spot gold lost 0.5 per cent, to stand at $US1,933 an ounce.
ABC/Reuters
