The Australian dollar has risen Wednesday, trading at 72.48 US cents up from yesterday’s 72.30 US cents.

The Aussie was at 71.77 US cents on Monday.

One Australian dollar buys 76.22 Japanese yen from 76.21 Japanese yen; 60.67 Euro cents down from yesterday’s 60.75 Euro cents; 54.67 British pence down from 54.89 British pence; 109.73 NZ cents from 110.40 NZ cents.

Yesterday, BHP and Westpac showed the scars of the coronavirus pandemic as reporting season continued but investors stayed optimistic and the ASX closed higher.

The S&P/ASX200 benchmark index closed higher by 47.0 points, or 0.77 per cent, to 6123.4 points on Tuesday.

The All Ordinaries index finished higher by 50.2 points, or 0.81 per cent, at 6268.7.

Despite the two market giants’ reports, the ASX200 rose steadily from 6,100 points at about 1300 AEST and reached a session high of 6139.3 before tailing off.

“It was a bit of a strange day of trade. We just seemed to build on to gains as the day drew on,” Burman Invest chief investment officer Julia Lee said.

She suspected there was no reason for the lift-off from 1300 AEST other than market psychology.

“As soon as we breached 6100 points, it looks like some technical buying came in,” she said.

“Those round figures tend to be psychological barriers for the market.”

Investors also had cause to be optimistic from the nation’s efforts in slowing the spread of the virus.

Victoria recorded 222 new cases, its lowest figure in a month, and 17 deaths. Melbourne remains in a six-week lockdown and many businesses are restricted from trading.

New South Wales recorded three cases, its lowest daily number in more than a month.

There was a rousing performance from health shares, which gained 4.23 per cent.

The rise followed a surge in Cochlear shares, which gained 9.8 per cent to $217.74 after its full-year results.

The company had a net loss of $238.3 million, down 186 per cent, which was blamed on patent litigation costs of $416.3 million.

Cochlear is not paying a final dividend, after paying $1.75 per share this time last year.

Yet the headlines were dominated by BHP and Westpac’s results.

BHP has reported a full-year net profit of US$7.95 billion (A$11.02 billion) after the pandemic challenged supply and demand.

Shareholders will receive a final dividend of 55 US cents per share, fully franked, lower from the 2019 final dividend of 78 US cents per share, fully franked.

Investors appear to have accepted the result and shares were lower by 0.53 per cent to $39.65.

BHP rivals were faring better and helped the materials sector higher. Rio Tinto was up by 1.1 per cent to $101.99, while Fortescue rose by 1.34 per cent to $18.19.

Westpac has pulled a dividend payment to shareholders due to the uncertainty created by the virus.

The bank reported third quarter cash earnings of $1.32 billion, down from $1.65 billion this time last year.

Shares finished down by 2.33 per cent to $17.18.

The financial sector was one of the main weights on the market, down 0.55 per cent.

ANZ lost 1.04 per cent to $18.07, the Commonwealth was down 0.4 per cent to $70.48 and NAB dipped by 0.79 per cent to $17.61.

Coles posted a net profit of $978 million, down 31.8 per cent from $1.44 billion, although those figures included discontinued businesses.

Coles will pay a final dividend of 27.5 cents, and its shares finished lower by 1.16 per cent to $18.71.

Treasury Wine Estates dropped 14.26 per cent to $10.58 after the Chinese government said it will investigate Australian wine exports.

The government wants to see whether “dumping” is occurring. This happens when companies export a product at a price much lower than the regular one in an attempt to win market share and drive out competitors.