Australian stocks rose 0.5 percent on Tuesday to end near a two-week high as strong earnings from Westpac Banking Corp, the country's third largest lender, pulled financial stocks up. Shares traded as much as 1.2 percent higher early, but lower US futures and expectations for a weaker opening on Wall Street hurt sentiment, dragging miners back, traders said.
"The US futures were our first lead and investors got worried on whether the market had gotten ahead of itself. But the day belonged to the banks," Lisa Jarvis, client adviser at RBS Morgan said. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index was up 22.35 points at 4,567.80, according to latest available data.
Westpac shares rose 6.2 percent to A$24.74, its biggest daily rise in a year, after posting a better-than-expected, 33 percent increase in cash profit. Bigger rival National Australia Bank climbed 3 percent and Australia and New Zealand Banking Group, the country's fourth biggest lender, rose 2.9 percent.
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