Australian shares end higher on energy boost; Afterpay jumps

Bremworth

12/01/2022 05:40

(Updates to close)
    By Navya Mittal
    Jan 12 (Reuters) - Australian shares closed higher on
Wednesday to mark their first gain this week, as energy stocks
led gains after a surge in oil prices, while Afterpay jumped
after its takeover by Block got a final approval.
    The S&P/ASX 200 index  .AXJO  ended 0.66% higher at 7,438.9
after falling for two straight sessions.
    Afterpay, one of the world's top buy-now-pay-later firms,
climbed as much as 6.8%, its best day since Aug. 3, after its
mega-buyout by payments firm Block  SQ.N  got a nod from the
Bank of Spain, making the deal fully unconditional. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2TR3MY
    Woodside Petroleum  WPL.AX  and Santos  STO.AX , Australia's
biggest oil and gas firms, climbed 4.1% and 3.3%, respectively,
lifting the broader energy index  .AXEJ  nearly 3% higher. 
    Oil prices extended big gains after the Federal Reserve
chief signalled that the central bank may raise rates more
slowly than expected, which should support oil demand in the
near term.  O/R 
    The highly anticipated U.S. inflation data, which is running
well above the Fed's 2% target, later this week will be key for
investors as they look for guidance on whether the Fed may have
to hasten the pace of its interest rate hikes. 
    If inflation rate is more than market expectations, then
markets "will start to panic that it (rate hikes) might happen
even faster than expected," said  Mathan Somasundaram, chief
operating officer at Deep Data Analytics.
    Quicker rate hikes by the Fed may cause global funding rates
to rise, costing Australian banks more to borrow despite the
Reserve Bank of Australia not raising rates itself he added.
    Gold stocks  .AXGD  also climbed as much as 3.4%, its
sharpest gain since Dec. 17, on firmer bullion prices.
    New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index  .NZ50  fell 0.2%
to 12,804.48. The top percentage loser was carpet maker
Bremworth Ltd  BRW.NZ , with a 3.9% drop.

 (Reporting by Navya Mittal; editing by Uttaresh.V)
 ((navya.mittal@thomsonreuters.com))
 
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