MELBOURNE: Australian shares firmed 0.1 percent to eke out a fresh nine-month closing high on Wednesday, boosted by miners on signs of a stronger global economy, though top banks slipped as margins shrank at Australia and New Zealand Banking Group. The market was boosted on Tuesday by a bumper rate cut of 50 basis points and consolidated the gains on Wednesday, with progress hindered by the softer lenders. "If you believe markets are forward looking, we should be at or near a low-point so hopefully the market will improve, but it may need a little more time to accept that view and see more evidence that we have seen the worst," said Paul Xiradis, chief executive at fund manager Ausbil Dexia. The benchmark rose 0.8 percent on Tuesday after the central bank cut rates by half a percentage point. On Wednesday, the S&P/ASX 200 index rose 6.4 points to 4,435.9 after the Dow Jones ...

MELBOURNE: Australian shares rose 0.3 percent on Thursday, with banks and industrials supporting the market after strong leads overnight and signs the US Federal Reserve is prepared to offer more stimulus, but media companies fell after a profit warning. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index rose 14.8 points to 4,375.2, according to the latest available data. The market came off earlier highs, and its highest intraday level in six-months, as the European debt situtation continued to dampen investor confidence. Banks and higher yeilding stocks were the best performers on growing certainty that Australia's central bank will cut the cash rate at its meeting next week. Commonwealth Bank of Australia rose 1 percent and Westpac rose 0.9 percent. New Zealand's benchmark NZX 50 index gained 1 point to 3,520.8 points. New Zealand's central bank held its official cash rate steady on Thursday, as expected. Copyright Reuters, 2012 ...

SYDNEY: Australian shares slipped 0.3 percent on Monday, retreating from eight-month highs hit last week with investors on tenterhooks ahead of inflation figures, which could spur the central bank to cut interest rates. "We could see a rally," said Macquarie Equities division director Lucinda Chan, if the March-quarter consumer price index data on Tuesday comes within expectations. The Reserve Bank of Australia has already indicated it will consider cutting the 4.25 percent cash rate at its next policy meeting on May 1, providing inflation numbers are tame. Analysts forecast the key measure of underlying inflation rose a moderate 0.6 percent in the first quarter, nudging the annual rate down to around 2.4 percent and comfortably within the RBA's long-term target band of 2 to 3 percent. Wholesale inflation data released on Monday supported the case for monetary easing, showing the prices of final goods dropped 0.3 percent in the March quarter, well below analyst ...