Local shares edge up: Afternoon market insights

The Australian market rose about 1% early today and remained there all day. The equities market finished up almost 1%, with most industry sectors moving higher. Most metals prices were up in London overnight but gold dropped after positive economic news in the United States.

The S&P/ASX200 rose 0.93%, or 39.60 points, to 4287.20. The All Ordinaries Index was also up 0.90% or 39.10 points to 4375.60.

The day’s winners

Mirabela Nickel (ASX: MBN) jumped 7.04 % to $0.90 at 3.20pm on the back of higher nickel prices in London. Mirabela is a Perth-based producer operating one of the world’s largest open-pit nickel mines in Brazil. It is also listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

Online recruitment company Seek (ASX: SEK) spiked 5.40% to $7.030.

The day’s losers

Perseus Mining (ASX: PRU) dropped 6.56% to $0.57. The gold miner focuses on under-explored gold belts in West Africa. Intrepid Mines (ASX: IAU) dropped 4.4% to $0.87, continuing a week of share price falls.

Sector movers

The biggest sector winner was again the S&P/ASX All Information Technology index, which rose 4.05% to 533.80.

The weakest sector was the All Ordinaries Gold (sub industry) which was down 1.35% or 89.0 points to 6492.80.

Currency

The Australian dollar was softer again today after falls overnight.  One Australian dollar was buying $US1.054 at 3.40pm.

Asian markets

Japan’s NIKKEI 225 was up 1.81% or 179.12 points to 10078.20.

In Hong Kong the Hang Seng was up 1.28% or 273.70 points to 21613.40.