Australian Investment Blog

• With expectation low after holidays in the U S, UK and Germany last night, we again had a pleasant surprise with the market again with risk surely back this week in the Australian Equities Market. The ASX 200 rallied 52 points higher to 5773 with plenty of corporate actions and mergers and acquisitions on the agenda.• With news that we did have, namely on oil up 17c (0.3%) to US$59.89/bbl and Iron Ore up 3.4% in Asia, it was enough to see a virtual across the board rise. • In the resources sector, Fortescue Metals (FMG) rallied as high as $2.50 before ending its session up 23c (+10.6%) at $2.40. The strength of this was mentioned in this morning’s report, despite FMG being not aware of any FIRB applications.• Of the Big 4 banks, Westpac (WBC) was the strongest link, rallying 69c (+2.1%) to $33.65 as investors turn optimistic of its group executive changes.• The utilities sector was the strongest of all today, heavily led by AGL Energy (AGL) – up 99c (+6.4%) at $16.47. This was after AGL announced its strategic roadmap, outlining targets of $1Bn in asset sales by FY17. AGL remains in a neutral pattern and see better risk/reward elsewhere.