Financials stocks, Bullock comments lift Australian shares
Xero leads gains in IT stocks
Policy to stay restrictive - Bullock
CBA hits record high
Updates to close
By Rishav Chatterjee
Nov 14 (Reuters) -Australian shares ended higher on Thursday, led by the heavyweight bank stocks after the central bank governor's comments pointed towards higher-for-longer interest rates, while Xero led the technology index higher.
The S&P/ASX 200 index .AXJO ended 0.4% higher at 8,224 points. It fell 0.8% on Wednesday.
Reserve Bank of Australia Governor Michelle Bullock showed no intent to ease borrowing rates until the country's inflation moves back to the central bank's target band.
Moreover, data showed that while employment growth slowed in October, the jobless rate stayed low and underlying trends remained relatively healthy, further hitting the case to cut rates.
Ryan Felsman, chief economist at CommSec, said Bullock's comments and the jobs data led to the rise in the rate-sensitive financials.
The bank index .AXFJ ended 1.4%higher. Commonwealth Bank of Australia CBA.AX, the country's top lender, hit a record high. The other three major banks gained between 1%and 2.2%.
Information technology shares .AXIJ gained 1.8%, led by a 5.9% surge in Xero XRO.AX after the software services provider's upbeat earnings report.
"Impressive growth in operating revenue with solid free cash flow justifies today's gains," Junvum Kim, Asia Pacific senior sales trader at Saxo Markets, said on Xero's earnings.
Mining .AXMM and energy stocks .AXEJ bucked the trend, closing 1.5%and 0.6%lower, respectively, on easing prices of iron-ore and oil.
Among individual stocks, James Hardie JHX.AX emerged as one of the top gainers after multiple brokerages upgraded their price targets on the building materials maker.
New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index .NZ50 closed 0.1% higher.
Reporting by Rishav Chatterjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'Souza
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