Australian shares rose 1 percent on Wednesday as investors hoped a last-ditch deal would be made to keep Greece in the euro zone. The S&P/ASX 200 index edged up 56.690 points to 5,515.700 at the close of trade. The benchmark was up 0.67 percent on Tuesday, but lost 5.5 percent in June due to the Greek crisis, a persistent slowdown in China and a slackening domestic economy.
New Zealand's benchmark NZX 50 index climbed 1.18 percent or 67.39 points to finish the session at 5,794.350. "At the moment the market is still dominated by what's happening in Greece," said Damien Boey, an equity strategist at Credit Suisse. "People are taking some of the overnight comment that Greece will not exit the euro as being positive," he said.
Greece on Tuesday became the first developed economy to default on a loan with the International Monetary Fund. The fund said the country had asked for a last-minute repayment extension earlier on Tuesday, which its board would consider "in due course." The financial sector led gains with QBE Insurance Group up 2.1 percent and AMP up 1.5 percent.
The mining sector lost 0.16 percent after Australia cut its price forecast for iron ore in 2015 on Tuesday. Fortescue Metals dropped 4.4 percent and Alumina Ltd lost 4.2 percent. New Zealand stocks had a second consecutive session of solid gains as investors put concerns about Greece's debt woes to one side and looked to buy back top stocks that had been battered earlier in the week.
The benchmark NZX-50 share index was 0.8 percent higher at 5,775.81, with power companies particularly in demand. Contact Energy, the market's number four stock by capitalisation, was up 2.4 percent, while Meridian Energy and Mighty River Power were each around 2 percent higher.
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