Australian shares closed higher for a sixth straight day on Tuesday, lifted by technology and banking stocks, although the gains were capped by miners and energy sectors after China's moves to combat a COVID-19 outbreak dragged commodity prices.
The S&P/ASX 200 index ended 0.7% higher at 7,464.3 — their highest since Jan. 13.
"The local market moves were driven by global macro trade on selling bonds and buying equities," said Mathan Somasundaram, CEO and founder Deep Data Analytics.
Domestic technology stocks snapped a three-day losing streak to jump more than 3%, as they tracked overnight gains in their Wall Street peers.
Australia-listed shares of Block Inc soared 6.8%, while accounting software provider Xero Ltd gained 3.3%.
Financials added 0.6%, hitting their highest since mid-November 2021, with the "Big Four" banks climbing between 0.2% to 1.1%.
Miners and mining stocks, however, lost 0.2% to fall after three consecutive days of gains after China enforced a COVID-19-led lockdown in Shanghai, raising concerns over commodity demand.
Sector majors Rio Tinto and BHP Group lost 1.4% and 0.6%, respectively.
Energy stocks shed 0.6% and gold stocks lost 0.3% on prospects of a peace talks between Russia and Ukraine and worries about fuel demand in China. Russia and Ukraine are set to meet in Istanbul on Tuesday for their first peace talks in over two weeks.
Oil majors Santos and Woodside Petroleum lost between 0.3% and 1.1%. Australia's largest gold miner Newcrest Mining fell 0.3%.
New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index ended 0.08% higher at 11,919.67.
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