The benchmark S&P-ASX 200 index hit a fresh 11-month high of 4577.3 points in late afternoon trade before cooling slightly to close at 4570.8 points, up 1.07%.
Even weaker than expected labour force figures for August failed to dent investor sentiment in today’s trade.
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the unemployment rate remained steady at 5.8% in August. However, 27,100 full-time jobs were cut during the month, almost double the forecast 15,000 job cut.
Wall Street extended its gains overnight with the S&P 500 hitting an 11-month closing high of 1033.37 points, up 0.8%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average ended up 0.5% at 9547.22 points while the NASDAQ gained 1.1% to 2060.39 points.
On the mining front, the major miners gained ground today despite weaker base metal prices.
BHP Billiton added 0.8% to close at $38, while Rio Tinto gained 1.2% to $58.85.
Australia’s third-largest iron ore producer Fortescue Metals Group closed at $4.26, up 1.9%, while OZ Minerals gained 3.7% to $1.11.
Uranium miner Paladin Energy closed the session 3% lower at $4.75 despite announcing it had raised around $A419 million from an institutional private placement of shares to fund merger and acquisition opportunities, progress its Langer Heinrich Stage 3 project and enhance its balance sheet flexibility.
Meanwhile, emerging iron ore play Gindalbie Metals closed 7.6% higher at 99c, despite reporting a plunge in annual net profit from $44.52 million in the previous year to $26.22 million as the company moves ahead with developing its Karara project.
On the London Metal Exchange, copper shed 1% overnight to $US6399.50 per tonne, nickel dipped 0.1% to $17,914/t and zinc fell 0.1% to $1956.50/t.
Gold stocks for the most part were dragged down on profit-taking as the spot price for the precious metal retreated from $US1000 an ounce.
Newcrest Mining closed down 2% at $A33.56, Lihir Gold fell 3.2% to $2.99 and Newmont Mining shed 1.5% to $5.30.
At 4:10pm AEST, spot gold was trading $US2.73 higher at $994.80/oz.
One of the big resource movers by percentage today was Adelaide Resources which closed 41% higher at 24c after announcing a joint venture with Southern Uranium in South Australia.
The companies will explore areas on the eastern part of the Eyre Peninsula for uranium and other mineral deposits.
One of the most heavily traded stocks today was Peninsula Minerals with more than 93 million shares changing hands by market close.
The uranium explorer today announced that the latest drill results at the Ross project area in Wyoming extended known mineralisation at the project.
Peninsula closed 7.8% higher at 5.5c.
