Stock Market

Australian shares rose on Wednesday after global miner BHP reported record iron ore output for fiscal 2018, which sent its shares up over 3 per cent in a boost to peers and overall sentiment.Wall Street's positive overnight lead also helped the SP/ASX 200 index put on 0.7 per cent to 6,245.1 at the close.
The benchmark fell 0.6 per cent on Tuesday.The world's biggest miner said its iron ore output rose 3 per cent during the three months through June, topping forecasts, and set its fiscal 2019 production target slightly higher.BHP's shares rose 3.3 per cent to a near 9-month high on the news, and pulled up the mining index 1.4 per cent.Even an expected $650 million charge to fiscal 2018 results to cover the failure of the Samarco Dam in Brazil did not dampen investor sentiment."Everyone knew there was a charge coming; that was probably towards the lower end of the worst-case scenario.
I think the hit they have taken is at the lesser end of the scale," said Christopher Conway, head of research and trading at Australian Stock Report.Positive BHP sentiment cascaded to its peers, with Rio Tinto and South32 Ltd up 0.4 per cent and 0.9 per cent, respectively.On the other hand, energy stocks extended their declines as oil prices dropped after an industry group reported that United States crude inventories rose last week, defying analyst expectations for a significant reduction.The energy index, fell for a sixth straight session after closing 0.6 per cent lower on Wednesday.The gold index also fell for a fourth consecutive session, as gold prices hovered near one-year lows, after upbeat testimony to Congress from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell on the United States economy buoyed the United States dollar.New Zealand's benchmark SP/NZX 50 index dropped 0.4 per cent to finish at 8,946.1.Health care stocks led the losses, while Z Energy was the biggest per centage loser, falling 2.7 per cent after cutting its 2019 operating earnings forecast.





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