Australian shares closed higher on Thursday after two straight sessions of falls, as property and gold stocks outweighed losses in heavyweight financials amid worries over tightening margins.

The S&P/ASX 200 index rose 0.13% to 7,379.2 after shedding 1.3% in the previous two sessions.

Property stocks led the recovery with real estate company Mirvac rising 1.8%, the most in a week, and property trust GPT Group climbing 2.2%.

Goodman Group advanced 2.5% to hit its highest in over 13 years after the property giant forecast a more than 15% growth in full-year operating earnings per security.

Financials fell 0.6%, extending losses fuelled by a margin-hit warning from Commonwealth Bank of Australia, the country's largest lender. Commonwealth Bank of Australia skidded 1.6%, while the rest of the "Big Four" lenders slipped between 0.9% and 1.4%.

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"Money is coming out of banks and going into other equities, but most of the commentary from companies' AGMs and updates also seemed quite positive, so that's certainly helping the market at the moment," said Henry Jennings, a senior analyst at Marcustoday Financial Newsletter.

"House price growth will soon peak in December and the property market is making the best of it right now."

Gold stocks rose 2.7% as lower US bond yields and dollar kept bullion prices supported.

Evolution Mining climbed 9.7% and was the best performer on the local bourse after the gold miner said it would buy Glencore's Ernest Henry copper-gold mine near Cloncurry for A$1 billion ($727.60 million).

New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index fell 0.29% to 12,800.3.