Australian Stock Market Report - Update 10/27/2011

MARKET UPDATE (2.50pm AEDT)

The Australian sharemarket has finally re-opened after a technical glitch crippled markets for a number of hours. At 2pm (AEDT) shares came back online and started rallying almost immediately. The All Ordinaries index (XAO), which is one of the most popular ways to measure Australian market performance is up 1.7 pct or 71.6 pts to 4372.4.

All sectors are higher with the mining sector currently the standout. The S&P/ASX 200 Materials index is up 2.59 pct or 297.2 pts to 11792.9. BHP Billiton (BHP) is up 2.87 pct or $1.06 to $38.00 and is trading at its highest level in over a month.

The four big banks are significantly higher, with Westpac (WBC) up 2.83 pct or 63 cents to $22.93, Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) is 2.3 pct higher to $50.24, National Australia Bank (NAB) is 2.2 pct or 55 cents stronger to $25.51 while ANZ Banking Group (ANZ) is up 1.71 pct or 37 cents to $21.97.

The gains can be attributed to the European leaders finally agreeing on a number of solutions for their region's debt crisis. European holders of Greek bonds (debt) will be taking a 50 pct loss on their holdings while the size of the continent's rescue fund has been increased from around 400 billion Euros to 1 trillion Euros.

So far in trade, 615 million shares have been traded worth $1.53 billion. 534 shares are up, 208 are lower and 309 are currently unchanged.

The Australian dollar (AUD) has benefited from the announcement out of Europe and buys US104.7 cents.

The AUD is the world's fifth most traded currency behind the U.S dollar, the Euro, Japanese Yen and British Pound. The AUD accounts for around 7 pct of all foreign exchange trades.

[Kick off your trading day with our newsletter]