Market Wrap / real rally

The S&P/ASX 200 pushed on with a 1.85% rally to 8,534.30 points this Wednesday. 

US President Donald Trump reassured markets, saying the Iran conflict negotiations were advancing well. This sent oil prices lower, while the local index jumped higher. On the data front, inflation cooled down in February, ahead of the start of the Middle-East conflict. 

The energy sector reversed previous gains, with oil producer Karoon dropping 7.3%. Coal miners were also in the red. 

However, positive sentiment pushed the materials sector firmly into the green. Rio Tinto gained 1.6% as it also secured the long term future of an aluminium smelter with a taxpayer funded $2-billion injection. 

Elsewhere Nickel Industries rose 6.8% on getting approval for ore sales in Indonesia. 

In other corporate stories, Macmahon’s share price appreciated after a deal to restart mining operations at a silver project. And Pepper Money finished higher after rejecting a $1 billion takeover bid from Challenger.

Inflation data today came in lower than forecast at 3.3%, but inflation is running still too high for the RBA, and the data predated the oil price spike.

Tomorrow, a NAB's quarterly business confidence survey is released. Soul Patts will hand down first-half earnings.