Australia shares rise on energy boost; set for second weekly loss on virus woes

Argosy Property

02/07/2021 02:18

July 2 (Reuters) - Australian shares rose half a percent on
Friday, lifted by energy stocks, but were on track to post a
second straight week of losses as the country combats outbreaks
of the Delta coronavirus variant.
    The S&P/ASX 200 index  .AXJO  rose 0.4% to 7,293.2 points by
0109 GMT. 
    Elsewhere, Japan's Nikkei  .N225  gained 0.3% and S&P 500
E-minis futures  EScv1  were up 0.1%.
    Australia's benchmark index is set to fall 0.2% this week as
the country battles the highly contagious Delta variant in three
state capital cities, with nearly half of all Australians under
strict stay-at-home orders.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL2N2OD3DV
    Supporting sentiment on Friday, Wall Street's major indexes
gained overnight, with the S&P 500  .SPX  notching its sixth
consecutive all-time closing high.  .N 
    Domestically, energy stocks  .AXEJ  rose 1.4% and were the
top percentage gainers on the benchmark and were on track to
mark their best session in 10 days, benefiting from a 2% jump in
oil prices.  O/R 
    The country's top independent gas producer Woodside
Petroleum  WPL.AX  added 1.9% and fuel supplier Ampol Ltd
 ALD.AX  gained 0.8%.
    The heavyweight financials index  .AXFJ  gained nearly 0.7%,
driven by gains in the "Big Four" banks.    
    Westpac Banking Corp  WBC.AX , Commonwealth Bank of
Australia  CBA.AX , National Australia Bank, and Australia and
New Zealand Banking Group  ANZ.AX  rose between 0.6% and 1%.
    Australia's corporate regulator said Westpac expects to pay
A$87 million ($64.96 million) to former customers of its advice
business who were not given important updates on companies that
they held shares in.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N2OD4IG
    Miners  .AXMM  were set to rise for a third consecutive day,
with global miner BHP Ltd  BHP.AX  and Fortescue Metals Group
 FMG.AX  rising about 0.3% each. 
    Across the Tasman Sea, New Zealand's S&P/NZX 50 index
 .NZ50  fell 0.1% to 12,671.26.
    Payments platform operator Pushpay Holdings Ltd  PPH.NZ  and
Air New Zealand Ltd  AIR.NZ  were among the top percentage
losers on the bourse, losing 2.8% and 1.3%, respectively. 
    
             


($1 = 1.3392 Australian dollars)
    
    

 (Reporting by Harish Sridharan in Bengaluru; Editing by Amy
Caren Daniel)
 ((harish.sridharan@thomsonreuters.com))
 
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