Bourse rebound in late rally

Published in The Australian, June 2006 by Kevin Audrusiak

Strong buying within minutes of the scheduled close saved the Australian share market from its second consecutive 1 per cent-plus decline as lower base metal prices and global inflation concerns continued to pull the market down.

Market data showed traders returned to the market yesterday after Monday’s dismal $2.9 billion result, with about $4.3 billion worth of shares changing hands as heavyweight mining and banking stocks led the movers on the All Ordinaries.

The index closed 39.1 points down at 4830.8 after being down by more than 50 points in the afternoon session. On they Sydney Futures Exchange the September share price index contract fell 3 points to 4862.

Wealth Within Analyst Dale Gillham said the late surge on the buying side could herald a return to positive territory for the bourse in today’s trade.

“So far this week we have seen a couple of down days as the bulls and bears wrestle for control of price direction following the strong recovery late last week.” Mr Gillham said.

“We expect to see a return of overall bullish sentiment in the next couple of days. Although there may be a further small pulling back in the meantime, we do not expect the market to fall below the low of 4726 last Wednesday before it starts to rise again.”