Australian shares rose on Wednesday, led by technology and financial stocks, as sentiment recovered on progress in Russia-Ukraine talks and hopes of Beijing’s stimulus support to help major Chinese cities recover from coronavirus lockdowns.
The S&P/ASX 200 index rose around 0.7% to 7,515.3 by 1155 GMT.
The benchmark ended 0.7% higher on Tuesday. Russia promised to scale down its military operations near Kyiv and surrounding cities, boosting investor confidence that a solution could be sought to end a five-week old conflict.
Additional policy support to shore up Asia’s largest economy, China, in the face of an uptick in COVID-19 cases also augured well for sentiment. Domestic technology stocks gained as much as 3.2%, tracking peers at Nasdaq Composite Index to hit their highest since Jan. 21.
Tech majors Xero Ltd and WiseTech Global firmed 3.7% and 2%, respectively.
Financial stocks also rose 0.8%, with the “Big Four” banks gaining between 0.5% and 1.2%. Markets are also focussed on global inflationary pressures wrecking havoc amid talks of aggressive rate hikes during cross-border tensions and COVID-19 concerns.
Gold stocks, however, fell, dropping by more than 1.3%, losing for the third straight session on plummeting bullion prices, as investors flocked towards riskier assets. Newcrest Mining Ltd slipped about 0.7%.
The mining subindex also slipped 0.4%, despite elevated iron ore prices, with global miners Rio Tinto Ltd and BHP Group Ltd falling 0.1% and 0.3%, respectively.
Australian shares end higher for sixth day as tech, financials rally
Energy stocks tracked a global weakness in oil prices, with Beach Energy Ltd slipping around 0.5%.
Index major Santos Ltd said in its annual climate report that it had set out new emission targets for 2030, targeting a 30% reduction in absolute emissions and a 40% reduction in emissions intensity.
The stock fell 0.2%. New Zealand’s benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index rose about 0.6% to to 11,995.2.
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