SYDNEY: Australian shares closed higher on Thursday as upbeat results and firm bullion prices helped the gold sub-index surge 7%, although the gains were capped by banks following earnings reports from their U.S. peers.

The S&P/ASX 200 index ended 0.1% higher at 7,342.40, snapping a two-day losing streak but still hovering near a one-month low hit in the previous session.

Gold stocks soared 7.3% in their best session since April 2020, as Northern Star Resources and Resolute Mining jumped 11.4% and 5.1%, respectively, after robust results.

Bullion prices aided gains as they steadied near a two-month high hit in the previous session.

Financials dropped 0.8% to a near one-month low, with top lenders Commonwealth Bank of Australia and National Australia Bank declining 0.7% and 1.3%, respectively.

Damian Rooney, director of equity sales at Argonaut, cited results from big U.S. banks this week as a possible catalyst for weakness in domestic bank shares.

Local tech stocks fell 0.6%, tracking their Wall Street peers lower after the tech-heavy Nasdaq entered correction territory overnight.