Australia shares stand pat ahead of US stimulus plan, earnings

Australian shares held steady on Thursday as investors refrained from big bets ahead of the earnings season and a stimulus plan from the United States, while buy-now-pay-later firm Afterpay led a surge in technology stocks.

The S&P/ASX 200 index was largely unchanged at 6,686.6 points by 2313 GMT.

Moves on the bourse have been limited this week as markets await corporate earnings to gauge how quickly the economy may rebound from a coronavirus-driven slump, as well as details of President-elect Joe Biden's stimulus measures.

Overnight, Wall Street's benchmark S&P 500 index closed slightly higher, with dealers also eyeing Congress' impeachment hearings against President Donald Trump.

Australia's tech stocks snapped a three-day losing run to climb 2.5%, led by a 5.2% rise in shares of Afterpay.

Research analysts at Morgan Stanley hiked their price target by more than 13% on the BNPL bellwether and said they expect further growth in 2021.

Financial stocks rose 0.3% with all the Big Four lenders trading higher. Westpac hit its highest level since Nov. 26.

Gold stocks underperformed, however, slipping 1.7%. Resolute Mining Ltd fell 3.5% and Silver Lake Resources lost 3.4%.

Advancers outnumbered decliners on the ASX by 635 to 496, a 1.3-to-1 ratio. There were 65 new highs and 38 new lows.

In New Zealand, the S&P/NZX 50 index advanced 0.2% to 13,120.28 points after three consecutive sessions of losses.

Meridian Energy rose as much as 3.2% after an agreement with Rio Tinto that would allow the global miner's aluminium smelter in New Zealand to continue operations until Dec. 2024.