Australian shares inched higher on Monday, helped by gains in gold and healthcare stocks, after softer-than-expected US job growth cemented expectations that the Federal Reserve might be done hiking interest rates.
The S&P/ASX 200 index was up 0.4% at 7,005.8, as of 0090 GMT, rising for a fifth consecutive session.
Investors are now awaiting the Reserve Bank of Australia’s (RBA) monetary policy decision on Nov. 7 for further direction.
The central bank is expected to raise interest rates by 25 basis points on Tuesday after keeping them on hold at its last four meetings, as inflation proves surprisingly strong, a Reuters Poll found.
On the benchmark index, gold stocks were the top percentage gainers with a rise of 3.5%, after bullion prices firmed on Friday following weak US jobs data.
Evolution Mining surged 6.6% and Northern Star Resources jumped 3.6%.
Healthcare stocks gained 1.7%, with CSL Ltd and Sonic Healthcare up 1.8% and 0.3%, respectively. Technology stocks tracked their Wall Street peers higher and were last up 0.9%. Sector heavyweight Xero gained 0.9%, while Block’s Australian shares rose 5.9%.
Financial stocks climbed 0.5%, with the “big four” banks notching gains between 0.1% and 2.7%.
Australian shares rise over 1% on US rate relief hopes
Shares of Westpac Banking Corp rose 2.7% after the company posted a 26% jump in annual profit and said it had started a $976 million share buyback.
In corporate news, superannuation fund AustralianSuper has raised its stake in Origin Energy to 15.03% after rejecting a A$16.40 billion ($10.68 billion) bid for the power producer from the Brookfield-EIG consortium. In New Zealand, the benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index rose 0.3% to 11,148.65.
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