Australian shares added 0.1 percent to close at a fresh six-year high, though a disappointing survey on Chinese manufacturing took much of the shine off a handful of strong earnings reports and Wall Street's upbeat performance. The S&P/ASX 200 index added 4.3 points to 5,638.9 at the close of trade after earlier hitting an intraday high of 5,679.5. The benchmark rose for a sixth consecutive session, its longest winning streak since mid-July.
New Zealand's benchmark NZX 50 index added 0.2 percent or 12.6 points to 5,152.9. The soft China economic report quickly ate into early gains that were spurred by minutes of the Federal Reserve's July meeting, which lifted US stocks as investors were reassured that the central bank will retain its ultra-low interest rates for some time. Miners pulled back from morning highs as a preliminary private survey showed growth in activity in China's vast factory sector slowed to a three-month low in August as output and new orders lost steam.
Rio Tinto was off 0.5 percent and BHP Billiton Ltd added 0.1. Australia is sensitive to economic news out of China, its biggest export market. A continued streak of strong earnings kept the market above water. Investment bank AMP Ltd jumped 3.6 percent to its highest since May 2013 of A$5.73 after lifting its underlying profit.
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