Australian shares go higher as banks and miners gain

Synlait Milk

10/10/2024 24:54

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)
 ((Rajasik.Mukherjee@thomsonreuters.com))
 
((For more information on DIARIES & DATA:
 U.S. earnings diary   RESF/US   
 Wall Street Week Ahead    .N/O 
 Global Economy Week Ahead  DATA/ 
................................................................
For latest top breaking news across all markets           NEWS1 ))