Australian shares rebound on boost from banks, miners

Australian shares rebounded on Monday, led by banks and miners, after their steepest one-day drop in the previous session, with investors bracing for a week of corporate earnings.

The S&P/ASX 200 index rose 1.5% to 8.840.50 by 2312 GMT, set for its strongest session since late April 2025.

The benchmark ended 2% lower on Friday, marking its weakest session since US President Donald Trump’s liberation day tariffs in April last year.

Financials rose as much as 1.2%, with the “Big Four” banks gaining between 0.4% and 1.2%. Three of the “Big Four” banks are scheduled to report their earnings this week, while National Australia Bank is slated to report next week.

The resources sub-index advanced as much as 2.9% as copper prices moved back above the $13,000 per metric ton mark on Friday.

Top miners BHP Group, Rio Tinto and Fortescue gained between 0.4% and 3.9%.

Gold miners snapped their two-day losing streak and advanced as much as 4.3% after bullion prices rebounded on Friday on a softer dollar and lingering concerns over US-Iran talks in Oman.

Resolute Mining and Predictive Discovery were up 8.7% and 8.5%, respectively, and were top gainers on the sub-index.

Healthcare, technology and real-estate stocks clocked gains between 0.5% and 4.2%.

Meanwhile, investment manager Challenger fell as much as 7.5% and emerged as the top laggard on the benchmark after its A$1.16 billion takeover bid for non-bank lender Pepper Money.

However, shares of Pepper Money rose as much as 33.5% to their highest level since early December.

Separately, investors are watching for key corporate earnings scheduled for this week, including biotech giant CSL and miner South32.

Across the Tasman Sea, New Zealand’s benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index fell 0.27% to 13,407.84, losing for a second consecutive session.