Australian shares at 2-week high on miners' boost; RBA minutes in focus
Aug 20 (Reuters) -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 .AXJO 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 U.S. Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 236.77 points, or 0.58%, at 40,896.53 points. The S&P 500 .SPX, .SPX gained 54.00 points, or 0.97% while Nasdaq .IXIC gained 245.05 points, or 1.39%. .N
U.S. 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 .AXMM rose 1.6% to a one-week high on Tuesday after Chinese iron ore futures DCIOcv1 on the Dalian Commodity Exchange climbed nearly 2%.
Australian banking stocks .AXFJ pared early gains to trade largely flat. Shares of ANZ Group ANZ.AX, 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 .AXEJ slipped as much as 0.6%. Brent crude LCOc1 futures fell 0.15% to $77.54 a barrel while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude CLc1 lost 0.19% to $74.23 per barrel.
Gold .AXGD and healthcare .AXHJ sub-indexes advanced between 0.7% and nearly 1%, respectively.
Among individual stocks, Dexus DXS.AX 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 .NZ50 fell 0.6%.
($1 = 1.4865 Australian dollars)
Reporting by Roushni Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips
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
Related Assets
Latest News
Disclaimer: The XM Group entities provide execution-only service and access to our Online Trading Facility, permitting a person to view and/or use the content available on or via the website, is not intended to change or expand on this, nor does it change or expand on this. Such access and use are always subject to: (i) Terms and Conditions; (ii) Risk Warnings; and (iii) Full Disclaimer. Such content is therefore provided as no more than general information. Particularly, please be aware that the contents of our Online Trading Facility are neither a solicitation, nor an offer to enter any transactions on the financial markets. Trading on any financial market involves a significant level of risk to your capital.
All material published on our Online Trading Facility is intended for educational/informational purposes only, and does not contain – nor should it be considered as containing – financial, investment tax or trading advice and recommendations; or a record of our trading prices; or an offer of, or solicitation for, a transaction in any financial instruments; or unsolicited financial promotions to you.
Any third-party content, as well as content prepared by XM, such as: opinions, news, research, analyses, prices and other information or links to third-party sites contained on this website are provided on an “as-is” basis, as general market commentary, and do not constitute investment advice. To the extent that any content is construed as investment research, you must note and accept that the content was not intended to and has not been prepared in accordance with legal requirements designed to promote the independence of investment research and as such, it would be considered as marketing communication under the relevant laws and regulations. Please ensure that you have read and understood our Notification on Non-Independent Investment. Research and Risk Warning concerning the foregoing information, which can be accessed here.
