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Healthcare index hits over a year high
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Financials hit highest in over 9 months
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RBA policy decision on Feb. 7
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NZX 50 rallies for fifth week in row
(Updates to close)
By John Biju
Feb 3 (Reuters) - Australian shares closed higher on
Friday to mark their fifth straight weekly gain, with investors
shifting focus to next week's events, which include the central
bank’s decision and a slew of corporate earnings.
The S&P/ASX 200 index ended 0.6% higher at 7,558.1
points. For the week, the benchmark added 0.9%.
The gains come after an upbeat start for Australian equities
in 2023. The index logged its best January on record with a 6.2%
gain and is inching towards an all-time high of 7,632.80 points
hit on Aug. 13, 2021.
Looking ahead, the Reserve Bank of Australia's (RBA) policy
meeting on Tuesday is in focus, where it is expected to deliver
a quarter-point interest rate hike, as it grapples with an
unexpected revival in inflation.
Corporate earnings will also kick off next week, with
quarterly results from Macquarie Group and ANZ Group set to offer clues into the health of the economy.
Financial stocks closed higher for the fifth week in
row, up 0.6% during the week. The so called "big four" lenders
rose between 1.3% and 2.3% on Friday.
"There's a lot of optimism in the air on banks reporting some of its strongest earnings for a while," Jessica Amir, market strategist at Saxo Capital Markets said. "The market is starting to preempt that." The export-reliant healthcare sub-index led gains with a 2.5% jump on Friday on a strong U.S. dollar, with heavyweight CSL Ltd closing 3% higher. Technology stocks tracked its Wall Street peers higher, up 0.6%, with shares of Computershare Ltd and ASX-listed shares of Block Inc gaining 3.8% and 0.6% respectively.
Energy stocks climbed 0.5%, with Santos and Woodside Energy rising 0.9% and 0.7% respectively.
Miners eased 1.6%. BHP Group , Rio Tinto dropped nearly 2% each and led the index to snap a four-week rally. Gold stocks slumped 3.6% as a stronger dollar impacted bullion prices. Newcrest Mining and Northern Star Resources were down 2.9% and 4%, respectively.
New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index ended 0.4% higher at 12,197.15, up for a the fifth straight week. (Reporting by John Biju in Bengaluru; editing by Uttaresh.V)
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