ASX rallies to highest since February last year and bitcoin hits new record high

The Australian share market has rallied to its highest level in 13 months, boosted by healthcare firms, technology shares and gold stocks amid a new record high for the S&P 500 index on Wall Street as bond yields fell. 

The All Ordinaries Index put on 0.7 per cent to 7,281, closing in on its record high of 7,290 in February last year.

The ASX 200 index ended at 7,023, its highest close since February 2020, before the coronavirus market crash. 

It reached a daily high today of 7,027 and is closing in on its record high of 7,192 reached on 20 February 2020. 

All sectors gained on the ASX 200 with healthcare stocks, technology, real estate and miners leading the rises.

Gold miners rose as the price of gold increased on stronger US inflation with the precious metal seen as a hedge against price rises.

Gold miner Resolute Mining surged 14.9 per cent to $0.54 after it told the market that the Ghanaian government had restored its mining lease at its Bibiani gold mine with conditions.

Also going up were fellow gold miner Perseus Mining (+6.7pc) and iron ore miner Mineral Resources (+6.5pc).

Going down were debt collector Credit Corporation (-3.7pc), mining services firm Monadelphous (-2.9pc) and travel firm Webjet (-2.6pc).

AMP abandons CEO long term bonus plan

AMP withdrew a resolution from its upcoming annual general meeting on the approval of multi-million-dollar long term bonus incentives for departing chief executive Francesco De Ferrari, after investor advisers recommended that shareholders vote against it. 

AMP fell 0.8 per cent to $1.23.

Buy now, pay later firm Afterpay rose 2.3 per cent and rival Zip went into a trading halt as it considers a capital raising.

Brainchip Holdings jumped by one fifth on the news it has begun volume manufacturing of its neuromorphic processor chip which can be used for smart home applications.

Origin Energy said it had signed a preliminary deal with the Port of Townsville for its green hydrogen export project. 

Origin shares rose 0.6 per cent. 

Oil and gas producer Woodside Petroleum fell 0.4 per cent on the news that long time chief executive Peter Coleman would retire from the company by June, earlier than expected.

New Zealand’s Top 50 index rose by three-quarters of a per cent after the Reserve Bank of New Zealand left official interest rates unchanged at 0.25 per cent.

The Australian dollar put on 0.5 per cent to around 76.80 US cents at 5pm AEST.

Spot gold rose 0.1 per cent to $US1746 an ounce at 5pm AEST.

Brent crude oil increased 1.4 per cent to $US64/50 a barrel.

Bitcoin hits record high 

Cryptocurrency and blockchain-related firms, such as Riot Blockchain and Marathon Digital Holdings gained as bitcoin prices hit a record high overnight of $63,769, a day ahead of the listing of Coinbase, the largest US cryptocurrency exchange. 

Bitcoin jumped to another record high during the day of $US64,899.97 per coin. 

The Nasdaq has set the reference price for Coinbase at $US250 a share, valuing the company at $65.3 billion. 

The reference price is not an offering price for investors to purchase shares but a benchmark for performance when the stock starts trading tomorrow. 

Coinbase is going public through a direct listing rather than a traditional public offering. 

This means the company will not raise any money and existing investors are not bound by lock-up restrictions on when they can sell their holdings.

On the ASX, bitcoin trading platform DigitalX jumped by one fifth. 

Bitcoin investment firm Raiz put on 4 per cent. 

Consumer confidence surges in April

Consumer confidence jumped to an 11-year high in April in Australia as optimism about the economy offset a delay in the rollout of coronavirus vaccines.

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The Westpac Melbourne Institute consumer confidence index rose to the highest since August 2010, up 6.2 per cent to 118.8, thanks to good news around the job market, including higher vacancies.

Westpac chief economist Bill Evans said it was an “extraordinary result.”

Mr Evans said he thought there may have been a dip in confidence because of the ending of government support measures like the JobKeeper wage subsidy but that proved to be unfounded.

Adding to the optimism, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said that housing starts rose by nearly one fifth over the December quarter boosted by the Federal Government’s subsidies for the construction industry. 

That’s the biggest quarterly rise in 19 years.

The application deadline for the Home Builder grant ended today. 

S&P 500 hits another record despite stalled Johnson & Johnson vaccine

Wall Street has hit more record highs despite rising inflation in the US and a halt to the rollout of the Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine and stronger inflation.

Technology stocks drove the S&P 500 index to another record closing high. 

Shares in pharmaceutical firm Johnson & Johnson hit a one-month low when the US paused use of its COVID-19 vaccine after six women under the age of 50 developed rare blood clots.

The company said it would delay the rollout of the vaccine to Europe after regulators there said they were reviewing health concerns. 

The news came as US data showed the consumer price index rose in March by the most in more than eight years,  kicking off what the majority of economists expect will be a brief period of higher inflation. 

The US CPI increased 0.6 per cent, the biggest increase since August 2012, amid rising vaccinations and massive government stimulus. 

Demand for US Treasury bonds pushed down yields, highlighting investors’ lack of concern about any imminent bump in interest rates. 

That saw big-name technology stocks like Apple, Microsoft and Amazon surge.

“The real curveball today is the J&J vaccine halt, although this too may be shrugged off as a minor setback,” managing director at investment strategy at E*TRADE Financial, Mike Loewengart, said.

“While this may cause some short-term volatility, investors have been pretty steadfast in their faith in a full economic recovery.”

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.2 per cent to 33,677, the S&P 500 gained 0.3 per cent to 4,142 and the Nasdaq Composite added nearly 1.1 per cent, to 13,996.

First-quarter earnings season begins tomorrow with the first reports expected from Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and Wells Fargo.

In Europe, stocks traded near record highs on robust Chinese trade data.

Chinese exports rose more than 30 per cent in US dollar terms in March from a year earlier, and imports jumped 38 per cent.

The FSTE 100 index was steady at 6,890, the DAX in Germany gained 0.1 per cent to 15,235, and the CAC 40 rose 0.4 per cent to 6,184.