The S&P/ASX 200 (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) has put last week's terrible performance behind it and has started the week strongly. In afternoon trade the benchmark index is higher by 0.7% to 5,322 points.
Four shares doing a lot of the heavy lifting are listed below. Here's why they have rocketed higher today:
Blackmores Limited (ASX: BKL) shares are up over 4% to $112.41 despite there being no news out of the health supplements company. Although its shares plunged after the release of disappointing first quarter results, they have now retraced those declines in full. Investors appear pleased to see management report that the second quarter has started strongly.
Orocobre Limited (ASX: ORE) shares have rocketed higher by an incredible 19% to $3.80 after it emerged that two leading brokers had slapped buy ratings on the lithium miner's shares. Analysts at Deutsche Bank and Macquarie appear to agree with management's view that lithium carbonate prices will remain high, putting the company in a position for bumper profit growth.
OZ Minerals Limited (ASX: OZL) shares are up 4% to $6.62 amid rising copper prices. Prices rose 4.8% last week according to Bloomberg on the back of an expected rise in demand from the China market. As China accounts for approximately half of all global copper demand, increasing demand in the country will only be good news for OZ Minerals. A slight rise in the spot gold price in the last few days is also likely to have given the miner's share price a boost today.
Qantas Airways Limited (ASX: QAN) shares are up over 3% to $3.05 after the release of its first quarter results. Incredibly its shares were down by 9% in early trade, but have staged a remarkable turnaround and are now well into positive territory. Whilst the airline has advised that first half underlying profit before tax is likely to be down compared to the prior corresponding period, I still feel it is a solid result considering the weaker demand it is experiencing.
