The big four banks and the miners led a broad-based ASX rally. Tha big four banks lifted by between 2.3 and 3.5 per cent on Monday. Despite the ebullient mood on show among shareholders, gold and silver prices are hovering around two-year highs, as investors weigh a positive US jobs report against continued global economic risks. Australia's gold and silver producers were among the best performing stocks among the top 200, including South32, owner and operator of Australia's largest silver mine. Silver has been carried along by the rush towards safe haven assets since the Brexit vote, though there aren't too many silver plays on the Australian bourse for investors to buy. The energy sector brought up the rear on Monday. Oil has been having a tough time of late as the market continues to try and find balance. Stubbornly high US inventories and rising output from OPEC, Russia and Canada have kept a lid on crude prices which have been trading between $US44 and $US52 a barrel in the last month. There was a broad appetite for shares in the whole region with Japanese, Chinese and Korean stocks all trading higher. However some warn the risk-on sentiment may be short lived, stemming from possible over confidence on Wall Street.

"Equity valuations are high limiting the scope for a rally," said Ric Spooner, chief market analyst at CMC Markets. "The improved US labour market also creates the risk that the market is too confident about the Fed not hiking rates again over the next 12 months." US Jobs Friday night's excellent US non-farm payrolls has given investors a clear signal the US economy is not lagging or faltering in its post-GFC recovery. While May's miserable reading saw a vicious selloff in US equities and unleashed a wave of uncertainty across financial markets, Friday's 287,000 figure for June sparked a rally on Wall Street that spilled over onto the ASX. Only 11,000 new jobs were recorded in May, so the average over two months is a much more respectable 147,000. Metals The price of lead has enjoyed a recent rise, including an especially buoyant 8.4 per cent hike in the week to July 1. Nickel has also enjoyed a healthy price run, thanks in part to speculation of Filipino mine closures, and supply concerns have driven the zinc price higher recently. The jump in lead, which has a small, generally illiquid market, seems to have no real reason. Macquarie suggests some of the profit-taking from zinc and nickel may have seen some traders mitigate their positions by buying lead on a relative value trade. "We think the zinc rally was the most influential driver, followed by broad-based stimulus expectations and dollar moves," Macquarie analysts said in a note.

Moody's The market largely ignored ratings agency Moody's after it released a statement highlighting its doubts the new Coalition government can execute its economic agenda. The agency announced that "in particular, indications that under a Coalition government with a split Senate, little agreement can be reached on fiscal consolidation and macroeconomic policy measures would be credit negative". Nor were investors overly troubled last week when fellow ratings agency Standard & Poor's downgraded Australia's outlook to "negative". Australian dollar The Australian dollar remained elevated for most of Monday, after a quick dip around lunchtime. Analysts attribute the support to the high demand for the carry trade against the euro and the British pound. Global risk appetite and buoyant commodity prices are also putting the Aussie in a sweet spot. The expectation that central banks are poised to pour more stimulus into the financial system has yield-hungry investors around the world on a bit of a buying spree. Primary Health Care

Primary Health Care shares took a hit on Monday after the company warned it will miss its annual profit guidance. A string of write-downs within the medical centre businesses will force the company to report an underlying profit after tax of $104 million for the year ended June 30. Primary Health Care had expected to meet the bottom end of its forecast range of $110 million. Investors sold off the stock, which was down 2.4 per cent to $3.73 at market close. Chief executive Peter Gregg said the changes would not affect the company's cash position or lending agreements. "We are focused on setting the right foundations for the long-term, cleaning up the balance sheet and taking a more conservative approach to our asset values and levels of provisioning," he said in a statement.