AU Evening Wrap: Blue-chips seal sixth straight advance

Moomoo News AU wrote a column · Mar 29, 2022 01:24

G'day, mooers! Check out the latest news on today's stock market !
• ASX 200 index edged 0.7% higher to 7464.3
• Top gainers: $Telix Pharmaceuticals Ltd (TLX.AU)$, $Magellan Financial Group Ltd (MFG.AU)$, $IDP Education Ltd (IEL.AU)$
• Top losers: $Whitehaven Coal Ltd (WHC.AU)$, $Zimplats Holdings Ltd (ZIM.AU)$, $Meridian Energy Ltd (MEZ.AU)$
- moomoo News AU

Australia's $S&P/ASX 200 (.XJO.AU)$ climbed 52 points or 0.7 per cent to its strongest close since mid-January. The rally extended the index's advance for the month to 6.9 per cent.

The benchmark index followed a positive lead by U.S. equities to notch a sixth straight gain that is its longest run since late December.

The heavyweight financial index added 0.6%, hours before the federal government was scheduled to release its annual budget.

Banks-- $CommBank (CBA.AU)$, $ANZ Group Holdings Ltd (ANZ.AU)$, $National Australia Bank Ltd (NAB.AU)$ and $Westpac Banking Corp (WBC.AU)$ --put on between 0.2% and 1.1%.

$Block Inc (SQ2.AU)$ jumped 6.8% and $Appen Ltd (APX.AU)$ rose 6.7% as tech stocks surged. Health and consumer stocks were also strong, but the materials and energy sectors slipped 0.2% and 0.55%, respectively, amid softer gold and oil prices.

S&P/ASX 200 Movers for Tuesday (3/29)