Australian shares rise on energy and gold boost; inflation data in focus

Reuters
29 Jan
Australian shares rise on energy and gold boost; inflation data in focus

Jan 29 (Reuters) - Australian shares rose on Wednesday, helped by gains in energy, gold and technology stocks, while investors focused on fourth-quarter inflation data due later in the day to determine the central bank's monetary policy trajectory.

The S&P/ASX 200 index .AXJO had climbed 0.4% to 8,433.3 by 2331 GMT. The benchmark closed marginally lower on Tuesday.

The fourth-quarter consumer price report is due at 0030 GMT, and analysts forecast the trimmed mean measure to rise 0.6%, the smallest increase since mid-2021.

The annual pace is seen slowing to 3.3%, while the six-month annualised pace would slow to 2.8% and back within the Reserve Bank of Australia's target band of 2% to 3%.

Markets are currently pricing in a 66% probability of a quarter-point interest rate cut next month.

Energy stocks .AXEJ advanced as much as 1.2%, after oil prices bounced back overnight from multi-week lows. Brent crude LCOc1 futures rose 0.7%. O/R

Boss Energy BOE.AX rose as much as 14.1% and was the top gainer on the benchmark index, after the company said it had started commercial production at its uranium project in South Australia.

Gold stocks .AXGD gained as much as 1.5% after bullion prices rebounded overnight. GOL/

Financials .AXFJ gained as much as 0.5%. Although lower interest rates are not beneficial for banks, they boost credit growth and borrowers' mortgage paying capacity.

Technology stocks .AXIJ bounced back, rising as much as 2.8% after U.S. stocks ended higher on Tuesday as artificial intelligence-linked technology shares recovered from a sharp sell-off triggered by a low-cost Chinese AI model.

Overnight, the U.S. Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 0.31%, while the S&P 500 .SPX gained 0.92%.

Miners .AXMM fell as much as 0.6% to hit their lowest level in more than two weeks, as copper prices slipped. MET/L

Among individual stocks, Whitehaven Coal WHC.AX jumped as much as 3.6% after the country's top independent coal miner said its quarterly output surged 92.7% from a year earlier.

In New Zealand, the benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index .NZ50 was flat at 12,956.8.

(Reporting by Sherin Sunny in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)

((Sherin.Sunny@thomsonreuters.com))

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