Australian shares climbed on Wednesday led by financial stocks, as investor sentiment was uplifted after the central bank kept rates on hold in its year-end monetary policy meeting.
The S&P/ASX 200 index was up 0.8% at 7,116.5, as of 0006 GMT.
The benchmark closed 0.9% lower on Tuesday.
The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) maintained its key cash rate at 4.35% at its December policy meeting on Tuesday, in line with market expectations, buying it more time to assess the state of the economy and decide whether to tighten further next year.
RBA Governor Michele Bullock also stuck with the watered down tightening bias from last month, saying whether further interest rate hikes are required would depend upon the data and the evolving assessment of risks.
Furthermore, data showed the country’s economy barely grew in the September quarter, a sign that RBA’s monetary tightening was working to cool demand.
Rate-sensitive financial stocks led gains on the benchmark, rising 1.1%, and hitting their highest level since Oct. 12, with the ‘Big Four’ banks gaining between 0.5% and 1.0%.
Australian shares snap 3-day gaining streak
Healthcare stocks followed the upward trend by rising 1%, with shares of CSL Ltd gaining 1.3%. Bucking the trend, gold stocks fell 3% to hit a one-week low, tracking a global decline in bullion prices.
Shares of Northern Star Resources fell 1.3%, while Evolution Mining was down 15%.
Woodside Energy climbed 0.1%, after the oil and gas producer said it signed a deal with Mexico Pacific to buy 1.3 million metric tons of liquefied natural gas per annum for two decades.
New Zealand’s benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index fell about 0.1% to 11,350.59.
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