Australian shares rose to a two-week high on Tuesday, supported by heavyweight miners, while investors eagerly await minutes from the central bank’s recent policy decision where it decided to stand pat on interest rates.
The S&P/ASX 200 index was up as much as 0.6% at 8,025.2 points, as of 0020 GMT.
The benchmark, which has traded higher for the past eight sessions, crossed the 8,000-point level for the first time since heavy losses seen at the start of August.
Minutes from the Reserve Bank of Australia, due later in the day, are expected to provide insights into the central bank’s current monetary policy settings.
Overnight, the US Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 236.77 points, or 0.58%, at 40,896.53 points.
The S&P 500 gained 54.00 points, or 0.97% while Nasdaq gained 245.05 points, or 1.39%.
US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell speaks in Jackson Hole on Friday and investors assume he will acknowledge the case for a potential interest rate cut in September.
In Sydney, miners rose 1.6% to a one-week high on Tuesday after Chinese iron ore futures on the Dalian Commodity Exchange climbed nearly 2%.
Australian shares subdued as tepid miners counter banks, gold boost
Australian banking stocks pared early gains to trade largely flat.
Shares of ANZ Group, the country’s fourth-largest lender, eased 0.1% after it said the number of home loan payments overdue more than three months edged up in the third quarter.
Energy stocks slipped as much as 0.6%. Brent crude futures fell 0.15% to $77.54 a barrel while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude lost 0.19% to $74.23 per barrel.
Gold and healthcare sub-indexes advanced between 0.7% and nearly 1%, respectively.
Among individual stocks, Dexus slipped more than 8% after the Australian real estate firm posted a bigger-than-expected annual loss.
New Zealand’s benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index fell 0.6%.
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