Australia shares jump as strong US data calms recession fears
Aug 16 (Reuters) -Australian shares climbed in a broad-based rally on Friday, tracking strong gains on Wall Street overnight after robust U.S. retail sales data allayed worries about an imminent recession in the world's largest economy.
The S&P/ASX 200 index .AXJO rose 1.3% to 7,968.6 by 0103 GMT. The benchmark was up for a sixth straight session and was on track to post its best weekly gain since December.
Data showed that U.S. retail sales increased 1.0%, well above market forecasts, easing fears of a sharp economic slowdown, fanned by a jump in the unemployment rate last week.
Overnight, the U.S. Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 1.39% at 40,563.06. The S&P 500 .SPX gained 1.61%, while Nasdaq .IXIC gained 2.34%. .N
Traders pared back bets the Federal Reserve would be forced into aggressive easing next month.
Meanwhile, Australia's central banker said it was premature to be thinking about rate cuts, adding underlying inflation was too high.
In Sydney, heavyweight miners .AXMM rose 2.1% to lead gains, after Chinese iron ore futures DCIOcv1 on the Dalian Commodity Exchange rose 0.8%.
Banking stocks .AXFJ added 1.4%. The country's top business lender National Australia Bank NAB.AX reported a drop in its third quarter cash earnings, but credit impairment charge came in lower-than-expected. The stock rose 1.2%.
Energy stocks .AXEJ were up 2%. Brent crude LCOc1 futures fell 0.15%, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude CLc1 lost 0.23%, but both were set for weekly gains. O/R
Tech .AXIJ, gold .AXGD and healthcare .AXHJ sub-indexes advanced between 0.9% and 1.7%.
Among individual stocks, bourse operator ASX Ltd ASX.AX dropped as much as 3.3% after its annual underlying profit slipped roughly 3% and missed market estimates.
New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index .NZ50 rose 0.3% to 12,745.43.
Synlait Milk SML.NZ and its shareholder a2 Milk ATM.NZ resolved disputes over exclusive manufacturing rights. a2 shares jumped over 4%, while Synlait rose 15%.
Reporting by Himanshi Akhand in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich
For more information on DIARIES & DATA: U.S. earnings diary RESF/US Wall Street Week Ahead .N/O Global Economy Week Ahead DATA/ ................................................................ For latest top breaking news across all markets NEWS1
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