Big win for Aussie company pushes ASX

The Australian share market has soared to its highest level in 20 days, led by boosts from the energy, financial and real estate sectors.

The ASX200 closed at a high of 7320.70 points after rising by 0.55 per cent or 29.90 points.

The market got off to a roaring start, shooting up 24 points in the first hour of trading, before dipping after 12pm and settling toward the end of the day.

Over the last five days, the index has gained 2.63 per cent and is currently 3.22 per cent off of its 52-week high.

The top trader on Wednesday was cancer immunooncology company Imugene, which rose by 12.90 per cent to $0.105 following an announcement it had been awarded a patent in the United States.

“Imugene receiving this patent allowance for the CF33 family of oncolytic viruses from the US patent office is a crucial step forward and with the US being the largest healthcare market in the world, this is a particularly important patent milestone,” Imugene chief executive Leslie Chong said.

It was followed by Brainchip Holdings and Coronado which saw their share prices rise by 6.76 per cent and 5.50 per cent respectively.

With the market ending high, nine out of 11 sectors ended in the green, with energy the best-performing group gaining 1.70 per cent in one day.

That sector was followed by the financials which rose 1.49 per cent and real estate which increased by 1.01 per cent.

With energy up across the board, Ampol snuck its way into the top five shares today, rising 4.36 per cent to end trading at $31.14.

Woodside managed to increase its share price by 1.41 per cent to $36.05 despite reporting a 29 per cent drop in revenue.

Also enjoying the energy blitz was Whitehaven Coal which increased its price by 2.79 per cent to $7.00 and Santos which rose 1.59 per cent to $7.65.

But it wasn’t completely smooth sailing across the market, with the materials sector falling by 0.56 per cent and telecommunications dropping by 0.34 per cent.

The miners suffered through Wednesday amid a dropping iron ore price, making up the top three biggest declines.

Gold miner Northern Star was the worst performer, its price tumbling by 5.83 per cent to end trading at $12.59.

Tailing behind were Sandfire Resources which fell by 3.39 per cent to $5.99 and Iluka Resources which is down 2.61 per cent to $10.84.

The major miners were also struggling with Fortescue falling 1.85 per cent to $22.29, followed by Rio Tinto which declined by 0.74 per cent and BHP which was down 0.33 per cent.

In contrast, the banks were having a field day with Westpac in the lead out of the big four with a 2.13 per cent increase to $22.06.

It was followed by ANZ rising 2.04 per cent to $25.46, Commonwealth Bank increasing by 2.03 per cent to $104.65 and NAB up 1.12 per cent to $27.98.