What an extraordinary week it has turned out to be for the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) and ASX shares. Last Friday, the ASX 200 closed at 8,708.8 points, around the same level it had been hovering at since November last year. But since then, investors have stepped on the gas.
Thanks to a series of dramatic share market hikes, the ASX 200 has vaulted a whopping 4.3% higher since Friday's close. That's around half of the ASX 200's average annual return in just three-and-a-half trading days. That half is today's session, which has seen investors push the index up by another solid 0.8%. Yesterday, we saw the ASX 200 finally get back over 9,000 points, a threshold it hadn't touched since October of last year.
After closing at 9.014.8 points yesterday, today's gains have seen the index get as high as 9,093.6 points, just a whisker off the ASX 200's all-time record of 9,115.2 points.
So the ASX 200 has gone from just over 8,700 points to almost 9,100 points in just a few trading days. Investors may be wondering how that's possible. Well, we have two ASX 200 shares to thank.
The first is BHP Group Ltd (ASX: BHP). BHP has just come off a rather brief stint as the largest stock on the ASX 200 Index. Despite this, the mining giant has had one of its best runs in years in recent months. As recently as April last year, BHP shares were trading at aorund $34 each. Today, those shares are over $52 each, up more than 50% since April.
This gain has come amid galloping commodity prices, notably copper, which BHP is a major producer of.
Even though it no longer holds the top-dog crown of the ASX 200, BHP still accounts for roughly 9.4% of the entire ASX 200's weighting. Given BHP shares are also up a hefty 7.3% since last Friday's session, we can happily conclude that the Big Australian is partly responsible for the ASX 200's return to over 9,000 points.
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ASX 200 at 9,000 points: Thank BHP and CBA
Although BHP's rise has undoubtedly assisted the ASX 200's recent run, it couldn't have pulled it off without good ol' Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA).
CBA's return to form over the past two trading days has been shocking. Between June of last year and this week, investors had been steadily losing faith in the ASX's largest bank stock. CBA hit what is still its record high of $192 back in June. But it had been a one-way trip ever since, with CBA bottoming out at well under $150 a share last month. Thanks to this decline, CBA lost that crown we just discussed to BHP just a few days later.
However, CBA's latest earnings, delivered yesterday, changed everything. The bank's unexpectedly large profit pulled investors back into the bank's orbit, resulting in CBA stock jumping 6.8% yesterday. Today, the bank has put on another 12.2% at the time of writing to over $178 a share.
CBA, back as the ASX 200's largest stock, makes up more than 9.8% of the entire ASX 200 Index's weighting. So its stellar recovery this week is the other factor we have to thank for the ASX 200's 9,000-point milestone.
Let's see if the ASX 200 can break 9,100 points next.
