Australian shares added 0.6 percent on Wednesday to close at six-year highs with gains across all major sectors after Wall Street rose on solid earnings, but tensions in Gaza and Ukraine kept gains in check. The S&P/ASX 200 index climbed 33.4 points to 5,576.7 at the close of trade, its highest point since June 2008. The benchmark edged 0.1 percent higher on Tuesday.
New Zealand's benchmark NZX 50 index added 0.2 percent or 12.7 points to finish the session at 5,146.5. Bluechip stocks underpinned the market, with the 'Big Four' banks gaining ground and global miners rising as zinc hit a three-year high and aluminium touched a 16-month peak overnight. Among top-tier miners, BHP Billiton Ltd, the world's third-largest supplier of iron ore, jumped 1.8 percent, and Rio Tinto Ltd climbed 0.9 percent. BHP beat its own guidance for full-year iron ore output, mining a record 225 million tonnes in fiscal 2014, 4 percent ahead of its forecast.
"I think the BHP production result has really underscored the positive sentiment in the market," said Ben Le Brun, a market analyst at OptionsXpress. The country's No 3 lender, Australia and New Zealand Banking Group, and top bank by market capitalisation Commonwealth Bank of Australia, both gained 0.7 percent. The benchmark index has been underpinned by signs that China, Australia's largest export market, is regaining momentum, while a robust earnings season in the United States has also lifted investor sentiment.
Elsewhere, investors shrugged off a mixed inflation report, with Australian consumer prices rising by a modest 0.5 percent last quarter. Among defensives, Australia's top telecommunications provider Telstra Corporation Ltd added 0.5 percent to continue its solid run. Shares in Telstra are 3.4 percent higher for the year.
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