Australian shares rose 0.7 percent on Wednesday on hopes for further easing of global monetary policy. The S&P/ASX 200 index closed at 5,488.7 points after its biggest one-day gain since July 11. The benchmark closed down 0.1 percent on Tuesday. New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index closed up 0.25 percent at 7,172.67, having earlier hit an all-time high of 7,174.7.
"We have seen markets stalling a bit of late and lacking a bit of direction. But today we're seeing some very strong reactions, especially in the healthcare and IT space, where a number of companies are quite happy to see the Aussie dollar weaken," said Angus Nicholson, a market analyst at broker IG Markets. Financial stocks were higher with insurer QBE adding 2.4 percent and Australia's big four banks all in positive territory. Westpac Banking Corp led the quartet, adding 0.83 percent. Commonwealth Bank rose 0.58 percent, Australia and New Zealand Banking Group added 0.7 percent and National Australia Bank edged up 0.19 percent.
Healthcare stocks also gained, with liver-focused medical device company Sirtex Medical Ltd adding 4.4 percent, service provider Ramsay Health Care Ltd gaining 3.4 percent and biopharmaceutical researcher CSL Ltd adding 2 percent. The mining sector weighed on the index with BHP Billiton Ltd stocks down 2.8 percent after the company announced it had missed its iron ore output target for fiscal 2016, due to the Samarco disaster in Brazil.