Australian shares ended 0.2 percent higher on Thursday as investors waited to see whether Britain will vote to leave the euro zone. The S&P/ASX 200 index firmed by 9.8 points to 5280.70 at the close of trade. The benchmark also barely changed on Wednesday. New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index also edged higher, by 0.58 percent or 39.6 points to finish the session at 6,821.35.
The latest YouGov opinion poll for The Times newspaper showed the "In" camp led "Out" by 51 percent to 49 percent, while a ComRes poll put the "In" lead at 48 percent to 42 percent. Analysts fear turmoil in global markets should the country actually vote to leave, with risk assets such as stocks and the local dollar likely to take a big hit. Helping miners was a $1 a tonne jump in iron ore prices and the basic materials sector was the biggest gainer of the day with an increase of 1.2 percent.
Fortescue Metals put on 5.4 percent to reach its highest in two months, and is up around 75 percent for the year so far. New Zealand's biggest gainers were Air New Zealand up 1.9 percent and Spark up 1.5 percent. Volumes, however, were very light. The biggest losers were Nuplex which shed 1.9 after the company said Allnex Belgium SA has advised Nuplex that the review process for receiving anti-trust clearance in the European Union is taking longer than expected. Allnex made a $1.05 billion offer for Nuplex earlier this year. Shareholders are due to vote on the scheme of arrangement at a special meeting in Auckland on July 7.
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