The local share market has pushed to a fresh five-month high after gaining ground for a second morning in a row.
At noon AEDT on Wednesday, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was up 59.8 points, or 0.83 per cent, to 7241.1, its best level since June 3.
The broader All Ordinaries was up 54.5 points to 7430.9, a 0.74 per cent rise.
The gains came even as Reserve Bank Governor Phil Lowe in a speech on Tuesday night outlined all the risks to the Australian economy, including “stagflation”, a wage-price spiral, a reversal of globalisation and climate change.
“The RBA has let investors know what could go wrong. So the central bank can’t be accused of being too upbeat and not representing the risks,” said CommSec chief economist Craig James in a note, in which he questioned whether investors are getting too positive.
“Investors are indeed placing significant trust in central banks to get it right – notably in the US and Australia,” he wrote.
At midday all sectors were up except tech, which was down 0.7 per cent.
Energy was again the biggest gainer, rising 1.9 per cent as Brent crude held steady at $US88 a barrel.
Woodside was up 1.8 per cent to $39.13, Santos had added 1.6 per cent to $7.59 and Beach Energy had gained 2.6 per cent to $1.755.
Coalminers continued to rebound after hitting all-time highs in October and then selling off. Whitehaven was up 5.5 per cent to a two-week high of $9.61 while Yancoal had added 3.5 per cent to a three-week high of $5.40.
In the heavyweight mining sector, BHP was up 1.0 per cent to $43.93, Rio Tinto had added 0.4 per cent to $105.34 and Fortescue Metals was flat at $19.20.
Goldminers Evolution, Northern Star and Newcrest had all gained a bit less than two per cent.
Qantas was up 4.8 per cent to $6.15 and had traded as high as $6.23, its best level since February 2020, after the flag carrier raised its first-half guidance by $150 million, citing continued strong travel demand.
Wesfarmers was up two per cent to a two-month high of $49.14. JB Hi-Fi had added 2.5 per cent and Harvey Norman was up 2.2 per cent.
All the big retail banks were up, with NAB climbing one per cent and the others gaining around half that.
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