The Australian share market finished session higher on Friday, 25 September 2020, following an overnight rebound on Wall Street driven by their U. S. counterparts. Investors also cheered the government's signals to ease lending standards to free up credit and revive the pandemic-hit economy.
At closing bell, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index added 88.98 points, or 1.51%, to 5,964.92. The broader All Ordinaries rose 83.99 points, or 1.39%, to 6,140.53.
The Australian market attracted buybacks from the start, following a Wall Street rise Thursday. The U.
S. market rebound came on the back of expectations for progress in deadlocked talks in the United States on a fresh economic relief package over the novel coronavirus crisis, as well as better-than-expected U. S. new home sales data for August.
Shares of banks and financials advanced after the government's signals to ease lending standards to free up credit and revive the pandemic-hit economy. The changes remove responsible lending laws introduced in the wake of the global financial crisis that, among other things, require banks to check whether information provided by borrowers in their loan applications is correct. Commonwealth Bank added 3% to A$66.13, Westpac rose 7.4% to A$17.58, NAB climbed 6.9% to A$18.37 and ANZ rose 6.3% to A$17.93. Regional lenders such as Bendigo and Adelaide Bank, Bank of Queensland, and Suncorp also joined the party on Friday
CURRENCY NEWS: The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.7071, following this week's slip from levels above $0.72.
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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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