By Robb M. Stewart
MELBOURNE--Australian shares rose Monday after a landslide
election win by the country's conservative coalition and taking
support from strong economic data from China, the country's biggest
trading partner.
The rise of the Liberal-Nationals after six years in opposition
in Saturday's poll brought to an end to months of political
uncertainty since campaigning effectively kicked off at the
beginning of the year, a damper on business and consumer
confidence.
Prime Minister-elect Tony Abbott has pledged to reboot the
economy and revive appetite for investment at a time when the
country is adapting to a stalled mining boom. Mr. Abbott has also
said he will ax taxes on carbon emissions and iron ore and
coal-mining profits.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 climbed 0.7% to finish the day at
5181.5, with broad support from mining, energy and financial
stocks.
"Now that the federal election is behind us with a majority
government winning power, market participants no longer have to
deal with uncertainty stemming from minority governments and the
past three years of heavy infighting within the Labor government,"
said Tim Radford, an analyst at Rivkin Securities Pty. Ltd. in
Sydney.
Still, ratings agencies aren't anticipating a near-term shift in
the government's fiscal position and have said the country's AAA
rating won't be affected by the election. National Australia Bank
also suggests a strong rebound in confidence could delay further
interest-rate cuts by the central bank.
Chris Weston, chief market strategist at IG, said investors
largely looked beyond the outcome of the election to international
signals, namely Chinese trade data over the weekend. Japan's
winning bid to host the 2020 summer Olympics also boosted
sentiment, as that could present opportunities for Australia's
construction companies and tourism operators.
The Chinese data as well as a rise in copper prices supported
gains in major mining companies, with BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto
both rising 1.4%.
However, Fortescue Metals dropped almost 2% after a slide in
iron-ore prices.
Struggling gold producer Newcrest Mining rose 3.4% after the
company axed short-term bonuses for Chief Executive Greg Robinson,
also freezing his and other executives' salaries.
The country's largest banks were all higher, with ANZ,
Commonwealth Bank, National Australia Bank and Westpac up between
0.6% and 1.3%.
Write to Robb M. Stewart at robb.stewart@wsj.com