Australian shares closed at a more than two-month high on Tuesday, supported by financials and real estate stocks. The S&P/ASX 200 index firmed 0.5 percent or 32.5 points to 6015.2 at the close of trade. The benchmark added 0.5 percent on Monday.
Banks led the race, with the Australian financial index posting its biggest one-day gain in nearly eight-months. Commonwealth Bank of Australia rose 1.9 percent. The gains came even as the country's banking regulator slugged the lender with an extra A$1 billion ($753 million) capital requirement as it released a scathing report into how the bank's "complacent" governance allowed money-laundering to flourish.
Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd surged 2.4 percent, its biggest percentage gain in more than nine-months. The lender reported a 4 percent rise in its half-year cash earnings from continued operations, helped by a sharp fall in bad debt charges and expenses declining marginally.
BlueScope Steel Ltd, the country's sole steel producer, traded 0.4 percent higher, while the wider metals and mining index gained 0.5 percent. Across the Tasman sea, New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index edged down 0.1 percent or 7.61 points to finish the session at 8,435.97. Shares of Skycity closed down 0.3 percent.
Comments
Comments are closed.