The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) has leapt up this morning propelled by strong improvement signals in the economy and ahead of the decision by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA). In the past 24 hours, the market has received news of rising house prices, increases in new home loans, and a continuing high month-on-month increase in job ads.
This has forced up a number of ASX 200 shares by over 4% in this morning's trading.
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ASX 200 shares up in early trading
At the time of writing, the Brambles Limited (ASX: BXB) share price is up by 6.07%. Brambles has announced a 6% increase in revenues for Q1FY21. The company has also updated its FY21 guidance for revenue to 2-4% at constant exchange rates, with an improvement in underlying profits.
The nation's largest ASX 200 energy companies have all recorded surges of over 4% in the morning's trade. Early reports say that Russia has indicated it may extend the OPEC production costs for an additional three months. Thus increasing the likelihood of cutting the current oil glut.
At the time of writing, the Woodside Petroleum Limited (ASX: WPL) share price is up by 5.23%, Oil Search Limited (ASX: OSH) is up by 5.51%, Santos Ltd (ASX: STO) is up by 4.73%, and Origin Energy Ltd (ASX: ORG) is up by 4.61%.
All of these ASX 200 companies have recently delivered Q1FY21 results, with Santos reporting record quarterly production and sales volumes. Moreover, Oil Search recorded an 11.2% increase in sales versus the previous quarter and 16.7% higher than the previous corresponding period in FY19.
Among others, two ASX 200 real estate companies with exposure to the residential sector, have also seen their share prices rise. Stockland Corporation Ltd (ASX: SGP) is up by 4.01% in the morning's trade. This company has recently reported net quarterly sales of 1,799 residential houses. This is the highest the company has reported for three years.
Meanwhile, Mirvac Group (ASX: MGR) has seen its share price jump up by 3.05%. Q1 leads rose by 34% compared to the previous quarter, placing them above pre-COVID-19 levels.
Foolish takeaway
At present, the market is expecting the RBA to cut interest rates a further 15-basis points to 0.1 per cent. In addition, there are hopes that it will release a formal statement of quantitative easing. ASX 200 shares continue to surge at the time of writing.
