Australian shares hit near five-week high; Macquarie CEO Wikramanayake to retire

Australian shares rose to a near five-week high on Thursday, with mining and real estate stocks leading gains ahead of jobs data, while investment bank Macquarie Group inched higher after announcing the retirement of its longtime CEO.

The S&P/ASX 200 index climbed 1.1% to 8,918.8 by 0115 GMT, hitting its highest level since June 18.

The benchmark gained 0.3% on Wednesday. Investors were awaiting the June jobs report to assess the inflation trajectory and gauge the central bank’s interest rate outlook.

Real estate stocks jumped nearly 2.1%, while financials climbed as much as 1.2% in their biggest intraday gain in more than two weeks.

Top bank Commonwealth Bank of Australia jumped more than 1% to hit a 10-week high.

Macquarie added 0.5% after announcing that its longstanding Chief Executive Shemara Wikramanayake would retire this year and be replaced by Greg Ward, one of the bank’s longest-serving executives.

Data centre landlord Goodman Group advanced more than 2% and Dexus climbed about 1%. Miners advanced as much as 2%, helped by a 2.5% jump in gold stocks after bullion prices rose overnight on a softer dollar and technical buying.

BHP, Rio Tinto and Fortescue were up between 1% and 2%.

Gold miners Northern Star Resources and Evolution Mining added more than 3%. Energy stocks gained as much as 1.5%, hitting their highest level since mid-June and climbing for a sixth straight session.

A prolonged exchange of strikes between the United States and Iran continued to benefit oil prices, pushing futures to a more than six-week high.

Santos, Australia’s second-largest independent oil and gas producer, added 1.2% after reporting a rise in second-quarter sales revenue. Peer Woodside Energy rose 0.9%, touching a more than one-month high. New Zealand’s benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index added 0.3% to 13,803.06.