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By Nichiket Sunil and Roushni Nair

Dec 24 (Reuters) - Australian shares inched up on Tuesday, with gains in banking and healthcare stocks outweighing losses in miners, as investors welcomed signals from the country's central bank regarding early 2025 rate cuts if inflation looked to be cooling sustainably.

The S&P/ASX 200 index .AXJO closed marginally higher by 0.24% at 8,220.9 points. The benchmark, however, has lost 3.5% in value from the month's peak hit on Dec. 3.

The Reserve Bank of Australia's December meeting minutes revealed board members were in favour of keeping interest rates high for now, but signalled they may consider cuts as soon as February if data supports such a move.

Markets now see a 50-50 chance for a February cut. 0#AUDIRPR

John Lockton, the head of investment strategy at Sandstone Insights, said he expects inflation to fall in the coming months, which he thinks would allow the RBA to cut its key rates by 75-100 basis points in 2025.

Tracking the positive sentiment, financials .AXFJ ended 0.3% higher. The Commonwealth Bank of Australia

Potential interest rate cuts could alleviate concerns about deteriorating asset quality in Australian banks, enhancing their investment and collateral values while stimulating borrowing activity.

Healthcare stocks .AXHJ followed suit to close up 0.8%, with sector heavyweight CSL CSL.AX adding 1.0%.

While the RBA may cut rates in early 2024, rate-sensitive stocks like Real Estate Investment Trusts and utilities are unlikely to see significant relief as bond yields are expected to remain elevated, Lockton added.

Energy stocks .AXEJ tracked oil prices higher, adding 0.7%. Woodside Energy WDS.AX and Santos STO.AX rose 0.9% and 0.8%, respectively. O/R

Miners .AXMM, however, retreated 0.4% after a fall in copper prices overnight with BHP BHP.AX, Rio Tinto RIO.AX and Fortescue FMG.AX losing between 0% and 0.8%. MET/L

New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index .NZ50 rose 0.7% in its third-straight session of gains.

(Reporting by Nichiket Sunil and Roushni Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Janane Venkatraman)

((Nichiket.Sunil@thomsonreuters.com))

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