After a stunning prior week, resources stocks had led the market lower for three straight days from Monday, but sentiment turned again on Thursday, which pulled the bourse higher.
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In Australia, the market on Thursday made modest gains on expectations that weak economic data from the USA and disappointing jobs numbers in Australia will keep interest rates low.
Official figures out overnight showed that United States retail spending in September rose just 0.1 per cent, which was half the pace expected by economists.
“Certain sections of the analytical community are calling for a rate cut in November after Westpac increased its variable home rate and this should be a positive driver for the high yielding stocks”, he said.
“It’s not surprising to see commodity-based stocks suffering”, Ms Lee said.
Meanwhile, equities were humming along as Credit Suisse analyst Hasan Tevfik called on local investors to be “contrarian” and to start “thinking bottom-up”.
Australian shares fell for the third day in a row on Wednesday, held back by faltering sentiment around housing, commodities and the Chinese economy.
Mining giants Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton were down more than half a per cent.
Spot iron ore fell 3 per cent to $US54.97 a tone yesterday and iron or futures were up 0.3 per cent today.
Whitehaven Coal delivered a strong lift in quarterly production.
Westpac Banking Corporation (ASX:WBC) has announced a $3.5 billion share entitlement offer.
Australia’s biggest oil producer Woodside Petroleum lost 1.6 per cent to $30.86.
Financials gave up 0.61 percent overall with the Commonwealth Bank of Australia down 0.66 percent, ANZ slumped 0.96 percent, the National Australia Bank (NAB) slipped 0.45 percent while Westpac is in a trading halt pending the completion of a 3.5 billion Australian dollar capital raising.
Westpac reported a net profit of $3.64 billion at 31 March 2015.
The flip side of this is the boost to airlines from persistently lower oil prices; Qantas shares ended 1.9 per cent higher at $3.80.
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Consumer staples were also a market leader, buoyed by growing consumer confidence figures.
