Resilience in commodity prices, long-awaited dividend payments and the increased likelihood of a liberal victory at the next election has pushed the local market higher by 11 points to 5,124.
Wesfarmers (ASX: WES) and Westpac (ASX: WBC) have risen by 2.2% and 1.2% whilst the big miners continue to push higher thanks to a stronger US dollar.
Commonwealth Bank (ASX: CBA) and Telstra (ASX: TLS) shares are trading 2.65% and 3.2% lower, respectively, after paying out strong dividends to shareholders.
Outside the S&P/ASX 20 (ASX: XTL), Fleetwood (ASX: FWB) and Bluescope Steel (ASX: BSL) are lower by 18% and 15% respectively. Conversely, results from Challenger (ASX: CGF) and Bendigo and Adelaide Bank (ASX: BEN) have pushed their shares higher.
Rivkin global analyst Tim Radford said "the market is slowly trading back towards 5,200 as commodity prices improve under a weakening US dollar and as investors go searching for higher return assets out[side] of bonds and cash".
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Motley Fool contributor Owen Raszkiewicz does not have a financial interest in any of the mentioned companies.
