The S&P/ASX 200 (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) is giving investors a belated Christmas gift on Thursday and is up 1.3% to 5,566.8 points at the time of writing.
Four shares that are climbing more than most today are listed below. Here's why they have surged higher:
The Afterpay Touch Group Ltd (ASX: APT) share price is up 5.5% to $12.37 after the release of positive retail sales data in the United States. Data provided by Mastercard SpendingPulse reveals that "holiday sales increased 5.1 percent to more than $850 billion this year – the strongest growth in the last six years. Online shopping also saw large gains of 19.1 percent compared to 2017." Investors may be betting on the Afterpay platform benefiting from the strong consumer spending.
The Bellamy's Australia Ltd (ASX: BAL) share price has zoomed 7% higher to $7.28 despite there being no news out of the infant formula company. But with its shares trading at just 18x earnings prior to today, I suspect bargain hunters may be swooping in today. As I said earlier today, I think Bellamy's is one of the best value growth shares on the local market right now.
The Origin Energy Ltd (ASX: ORG) share price has climbed 3.5% higher to $6.34 after oil prices rebounded overnight. After a sharp decline on Christmas Eve, prices rebounded strongly on Wednesday after positive developments between Russia and OPEC. According to Bloomberg, the WTI crude oil price rose 7.7% to US$45.79 a barrel and the Brent crude oil price pushed 7.3% higher to US$54.15 a barrel.
The Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX: PLS) share price is up 4% to 64.5 cents. Almost all of Australia's leading lithium miners are on the rise today. Investors may believe they fell into oversold territory after a recent selloff caused by a weak update from Orocobre Limited (ASX: ORE). Lower demand had led to Orocobre reporting a sharp decline in the price of its lithium carbonate in the December quarter.
