The mining heavyweights both made gains today with BHP Billiton closing 1.2% higher at $A34.30, while Rio Tinto gained 0.3% to $51.75 after announcing the United Kingdom portion of its $US15.2 billion ($A18.8 billion) rights issue closed yesterday with 96.97% of eligible shareholders participating.
It was a quiet day of trading on the broader market with the benchmark S&P-ASX 200 index fading from an early high of 3910.2 points, up 1%, to close the session only 0.09% higher at 3877.3 points, while the All Ordinaries added 0.07% to close at 3875.2 points.
“People aren't prepared to do much before reporting season,” RBS head of Sydney sales trading Justin Gallagher told Dow Jones Newswires.
“In the absence of compelling economic news, it's going to be a rudderless
few weeks.”
Stocks on Wall Street ended higher following an encouraging report on the US manufacturing sector.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.7% higher at 8504.06 points overnight.
Base metals on the London Metal Exchange surged higher overnight with nickel for three-month delivery soaring 7.3% to close at $US16,495 per tonne.
Copper for three-month delivery gained 2.4% overnight to close at $5087.5 points, while zinc added 3% to close at $1595/t.
Spot gold shed 0.13% to $939 per ounce at 4:10pm AEST. Despite the price fall, the major gold plays made gains with Newcrest Mining closing 3% higher at $31.20, Lihir Gold adding 1.7% to $2.98 and Newmont Mining up 2.6% at $5.18.
Uranium play Extract Resources closed the session 0.6% higher at $6.28 after announcing a 34% increase in the resources at its flagship high-grade Rossing South project to 145 million pounds of uranium, firming the deposit’s position as one of the biggest new uranium discoveries in the world.
Meantime, the records keep tumbling at nickel play Panoramic Resources with the company producing a record 18,750 tonnes of nickel contained in concentrate for the year, a 26% rise on the previous year.
Shares in Panoramic closed the session 8% higher at $2.42.
Australia’s third-largest iron ore producer Fortescue Metals Group dipped 0.5% to close at $3.67, while uranium play Paladin Energy shed 1.8% to $4.95 and OZ Minerals slipped 0.6% to 88.5c.
