Gold stocks soared about 3%, touching their highest since April 2022 and leading gains on the benchmark index, after Newmont , the world's largest gold producer, raised its offer for Newcrest to A$29.4 billion ($19.56 billion). Shares of Newcrest gained more than 6%.
Miners jumped more than 2% and were on track to snap
a four-day losing streak. Sector giants BHP Group , Rio
Tinto and Fortescue Metals Group added between
1.7% and 2.7%.
Meanwhile, copper-gold miner OZ Minerals said its
A$9.6 billion buyout by BHP Group had received approval
from Vietnam's Competition and Consumer Authority.
Energy stocks rose 0.6% after crude oil prices edged
higher overnight as traders weighed supply cuts from OPEC+ that
would tighten the global market against concerns about further
interest rate hikes potentially hurting demand.
Financials added 0.8%, with the so-called "big four"
banks trading in positive territory.
Across the Tasman Sea, New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50
index rose 0.2% to 11,898.72.
New Zealand's central bank is expected to raise interest
rates by 25 bps in May to 5.50% following a surprise half-point
move on Wednesday and then pause for the remainder of the year,
a snap Reuters poll of economists showed on Thursday.
($1 = 1.5033 Australian dollars)
(Reporting by Jaskiran Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by
Subhranshu Sahu)
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