Australian share market surges after US mortgage rescue
September 08, 2008
THE stock market has opened over 3 per cent higher after the US government gave markets a boost with its intervention to take over mortgage institutions Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.
At 10.43am (AEST), the benchmark S&P/ASX200 was up 163.9 points, or 3.36 per cent to 5041.0, while the broader All Ordinaries gained 152.7 points, or 3.092 per cent to 5102.2.
The September share price index futures contract was up 168 points to 5042 on volume of 13,306 contracts.
The share market was a sea of green this morning, buoyed too by the revised agreement between St George Bank and Westpac to merge the nation's second and fifth largest banks.
Resources also were up strongly, with Origin Energy announcing a $9.6 billion investment by US energy giant ConnocoPhillips in its proposed coal seam gas-LNG project in Queensland.
On Friday, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 32.73, or 0.29 per cent to settle at 11,220.96.
Broader stocks ended mixed. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 5.48, or 0.44 per cent to 1242.31, while the Nasdaq composite index fell 3.16, or 0.14 per cent to 2255.88.
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