Australian and New Zealand stocks rebounded on Friday to end at record closing highs, with strong metal prices boosting miners like BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto to fresh peaks. The benchmark Australian S&P/ASX 200 index climbed 21.0 points, or 0.5 percent, to 4,388.8 - outpacing the previous best of 4,386.8 struck on Wednesday. It added 0.4 percent on the week and advanced seven of the past eight days.
"There is still a pretty high level of cash in the market, and I think some of that is finding its way into the market. So it's probably a liquidity and cash driven rally," said Adam Dixon, a dealer with fund manager Ausbil Dexia.
"Commodity stocks are firm, on the back of what has been a pretty solid quarterly production period and also on strong commodity prices."
The index is now up 2.6 percent in the new fiscal year, after gaining 21 percent in fiscal 2005, its best return since 1997.
The bulk of Australia's near 1,800 listed companies are scheduled to report annual results over the next few weeks and investors are waiting for their outlooks on the current fiscal year.
The Australian economy, the world's 13th-biggest, is cooling after 14 years of expansion, and investors are concerned that corporate profit growth may shrink as a result.
New Zealand shares reversed an early slip with the benchmark NZSX-50 index ending 2.36 points firmer, or 0.1 percent, at 3,359.28.
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