Australian shares go higher as banks and miners gain
Oct 10 (Reuters) -Australian shares rose on Thursday driven by gains in heavyweight miners and financials, while mining giant Rio Tinto RIO.L offered to buy U.S.-based Arcadium Lithium ALTM.N in a $6.7 billion deal a day earlier.
The S&P/ASX 200 index .AXJO rose 0.5% to 8,225 by 2331 GMT. The benchmark ended 0.1% higher on Wednesday.
After the market closed on Wednesday, Rio Tinto said it will buy Arcadium Lithium in an all-cash deal to become the world's third-largest lithium miner.
Shares of the iron ore miner rose as much as 0.8% to A$119.220.
The mining sub-index .AXMM snapped a two-day losing streak to gain 0.6%, despite a dip in global iron ore prices. IRONORE/
Sector heavyweight BHP Group BHP.AX gained 0.5%.
The rate-sensitive financials .AXFJ gained as much as 0.9% to hit its highest level since Sept. 26, on track for its fourth consecutive session of gains.
The "Big Four" banks rose between 0.5% and 0.8%.
Energy stocks .AXEJ snapped a two-day losing streak to rise 0.5%. Oil and gas firm Santos STO.AX added 0.3% after it announced an $800 million financing of its Darwin LNG joint venture.
Brent crude LCOc1 futures settled at $76.58 a barrel, falling 0.8%. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures CLc1 settled down 0.5% at $73.24 a barrel.
Real estate stocks .AXRE added 0.8% with Goodman Group GMG.AX rising 0.8%.
Globally, market participants await the crucial U.S. September inflation print due later in the day to get further clarity of the Federal Reserve's monetary easing stance.
Overnight, the U.S. Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 1.03% at 42,512 points on Wednesday. The S&P 500 .SPX gained 0.71% while Nasdaq .IXIC gained 0.60%.
New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index .NZ50 traded largely flat as of 2331 GMT.
Among corporate news, dairy processing firm Synlait Milk SML.NZ hiked its base milk price forecast for the 2024-25 season.
Reporting by Rajasik Mukherjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Alan Barona
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