Australian shares rise, banks and consumer discretionary stocks lead gains

Australian shares rose on Monday, tracking an upbeat Wall Street session and buoyed by higher oil prices, with gains led by financials, consumer discretionary and energy stocks.

The S&P/ASX 200 index rose 0.8% to 8,785.90 points by 2355 GMT.

The benchmark ended unchanged on Friday, and fell 0.1% last week.

The S&P 500 climbed 0.65% on Friday, as chip firms rallied and weaker-than-expected US payrolls data reinforced bets for interest rate cuts.

The Nasdaq gained 0.82%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.48%.

In Australia, financials advanced 1.2%.

The sector fell 2.5% last week on mounting worries that potential rate hikes could deter new mortgage buyers, and as competition for market share intensifies.

The “big four” banks climbed between 0.9% and 1.7%, while financial conglomerate Macquarie rose 1.1%.

Energy stocks gained 1.2%, tracking higher oil prices after intensifying protests in Iran and escalating attacks in Russia’s war in Ukraine spurred supply disruption concerns.

Woodside added 1.2% and Santos rose 1%.

Consumer discretionary stocks climbed 2%, posting their biggest intraday gain in more than four months.

Meanwhile, miners slipped 0.1%, weighed down by a 1% decline in BHP, after rising iron ore inventories at Chinese ports pushed down prices of the steelmaking ingredient on Friday.

BHP is also under the limelight as competitor Rio Tinto’s talks to acquire Glencore intensify pressure on it to consider consolidation and boost copper acquisitions as demand for the base metal surges from clean energy and artificial intelligence growth. Rio fell 0.6%, extending Friday’s 6.3% tumble.

Gold stocks provided some support to the benchmark index, rising 2.5% on bullion’s gains.

In New Zealand, the benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index rose 0.2% to 13,723.56 points.