Australian shares rise on gold, healthcare boost; RBA meeting in focus -November 05, 2023 at 07:45 pm EST

Nov 6 (Reuters) – Australian shares inched higher on
Monday, helped by gains in gold and healthcare stocks, after
softer-than-expected U.S. job growth cemented expectations that
the Federal Reserve might be done hiking interest rates.

The S&P/ASX 200 index was up 0.4% at 7,005.8, as of
0090 GMT, rising for a fifth consecutive session.

Investors are now awaiting the Reserve Bank of Australia’s
(RBA) monetary policy decision on Nov. 7 for further direction.

The central bank is expected to raise interest rates by 25
basis points on Tuesday after keeping them on hold at its last
four meetings, as inflation proves surprisingly strong, a
Reuters Poll found.

On the benchmark index, gold stocks were the top
percentage gainers with a rise of 3.5%, after bullion prices
firmed on Friday following weak U.S. jobs data.

Evolution Mining surged 6.6% and Northern Star
Resources jumped 3.6%.

Healthcare stocks gained 1.7%, with CSL Ltd
and Sonic Healthcare up 1.8% and 0.3%, respectively.

Technology stocks tracked their Wall Street peers
higher and were last up 0.9%.

Sector heavyweight Xero gained 0.9%, while Block’s
Australian shares rose 5.9%.

Financial stocks climbed 0.5%, with the “big four”
banks notching gains between 0.1% and 2.7%.

Shares of Westpac Banking Corp rose 2.7% after the
company posted a 26% jump in annual profit and said it had
started a $976 million share buyback.

In corporate news, superannuation fund AustralianSuper has
raised its stake in Origin Energy to 15.03% after
rejecting a A$16.40 billion ($10.68 billion) bid for the power
producer from the Brookfield-EIG consortium.

In New Zealand, the benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index rose
0.3% to 11,148.65.

(Reporting by Poonam Behura in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu
Sahu)