Mining stocks climbed as much as 0.1 per cent to hit their highest in nearly a week and financials rose 0.6 per cent, lifted by gains in the ‘Big Four’ banks
Australian shares jumped on Monday, after posting their first weekly loss in four, as gains in mining and financial stocks overshadowed mixed signals from Wall Street in the previous session.
The ASX 200 was up 0.2 per cent to 7,491 by 11:53pm AEST. The benchmark closed 0.5 per cent higher on Friday.
The Australian dollar was down at 74.41 US cents.
Mining stocks, which dropped over 1 per cent last week, climbed as much as 0.1 per cent to hit their highest in nearly a week.
Global miner BHP Group was down 0.3 per cent. Among peers, Rio Tinto dropped 1 per cent and Fortescue Metals Group gave up 2 per cent.
Gold stocks climbed 2 per cent and hit a one-week high. Newcrest Mining, Australia’s largest listed gold miner, rose 1.7 per cent.
Separately, Australian miner Western Areas agreed to a revised takeover offer from nickel-lithium miner IGO.
Shares of IGO and Western Areas rose 3.9 per cent and 5.3 per cent respectively.
Financials rose 0.6 per cent, lifted by gains in the ‘Big Four’ banks.
NAB and ANZ advanced 1 per cent and 1.1 per cent respectively, while CBA and Westpac added 1.2 per cent and 0.7 per cent.
BlueScope Steel jumped 0.8 per cent, set for its best day in one week after signing an agreement to acquire Cornerstone Building Brand’s coil coatings business for $US500 million.
On Wall Street, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq ended lower in choppy trades as investors assessed the economic outlook with the Fed moving to fight inflation.
Last week’s release of minutes from the Fed’s March meeting showed ‘many’ officials were prepared to raise rates in 50-basis-point increments in coming months.
