Aussie banks rally on surprise conservative election win

This article is more than 12 months old

May 21, 2019 06:00 am

SYDNEY Australian bank shares posted their biggest rally in a decade yesterday as a surprise conservative election win eased regulation fears.

The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) said Prime Minister Scott Morrison's coalition has won 76 seats in Australia's Parliament, which is comprised of 151 elected lawmakers. The AEC said the coalition is ahead in one of the three seats that have not been declared.

With every major poll suggesting a win for the opposition Labor Party, bank stocks had traded below the broader market partly because of the party's policies to end tax breaks for landlords and for share investors who do not earn other income.

With those proposals now off the legislative agenda, shares of the top banks stormed to their biggest single-session rise since the 2008 financial crisis.

Shares of top lender Commonwealth Bank of Australia jumped as much as 7 per cent, its biggest gain since 2009. No. 2 lender Westpac Banking Corp was up over 8 per cent, its biggest trading day by volume in 10 years. - REUTERS