The big four lenders have carried the Australian sharemarket to its highest level since early March.

After adding $31 billion to the combined value of the big four the previous two session, investors piled anew into banks. ANZ rose 4.5 per cent to close at $18.74, Westpac climbed 4.4 per cent to end the day at $18.39, National Australia Bank firmed 4.7 per cent to $18.79 and Commonwealth Bank advanced 2.2 per cent to $65.73.
The bank-fuelled rally in equities this week caught investment professionals off guard.
“I’m surprised at the confidence that equity markets are expressing in the ability of policymakers to get us through this,” said GSFM investment strategist Stephen Miller. “They may be right but I think on the balance of probabilities, there is a very big chance of [another] correction.”
Another significant round of lay-offs among News Corp’s regional media outlets provided a reminder that there would be permanent scarring left on the economy.
While regional news businesses have had increased pressure from structural changes for some time, the virus has become the catalyst that prompted management to call time on underperforming sectors, with a major restructuring expected to add hundreds more to the jobless ranks.
Investors, though, received the news well, pushing News Corp shares up 1.1 per cent to close at $18.50.
Despite the news, expectations of a “less-bad” labour force outcome drew support from comments by Reserve Bank of Australia governor Philip Lowe.
“The economy is doing a bit better than was earlier feared,” Dr Lowe told a parliamentary inquiry. “[The jobless numbers] weren’t quite as bad as we thought they would be and the data we have seen since suggests there is a bottoming out.”
Australia’s major iron ore miners added to the gains. Rio Tinto closed 2.3 per cent higher at $93.63, BHP gained 2 per cent to $35.16, and Fortescue Metals Group advanced 3.4 per cent to $13.52.
It was a mixed day for the technology sector with Nearmap surging 16.7 per cent to $2.24 after a trading update and Bravura Solutions sliding 2.4 per cent to $4.80
WiseTech shares fell sharply after the logistics technology company told investors obligations connected to a number of businesses it has bought have been revised.
The resulting non-cash accounting changes will provide the company with a $69.5 million boost to its bottom line in the second half of financial year 2020.
The move was criticised by the short-selling research J Capital Research, which has been highly critical of WiseTech and its management, as a planned way to inflate profit.
WiseTech shares closed 5.8 per cent lower at $21.06.
Santos shares closed 3.2 per cent lower at 23.07 despite telling investors it had completed the acquisition of ConocoPhillips’s northern Australia and Timor-Leste assets for a reduced purchase price of $US1.26 billion ($1.9 billion).