Australia: Miners help shares back to gains

[SYDNEY] Australian stocks rose on Friday after four straight sessions of losses, as miners extended gains on relief that China Evergrande Group averted a default and a shock from a surprisingly strong US inflation print eased.

The S&P/ASX 200 index closed 0.83 per cent higher at 7,443, cutting its weekly losses to 0.2 per cent.

Miners jumped 2.1 per cent and were the biggest boost to the benchmark index after a strong rebound in iron ore prices on Thursday. The index added 5.2 per cent for the week.

Sector heavyweights BHP, Rio Tinto and Fortescue added between 1.9 per cent and 3.4 per cent on Friday. BHP's climate action plan received shareholder approval on Thursday, after a tussle with proxy advisory firms which recommended shareholders vote against it.

Greenland Minerals, which is not a part of the index, nosedived 29.6 per cent as Greenland's new legislation to ban uranium mining and cease development of the Australian rare-earths miner's Kuannersuit mine threatened its operations.

"The benchmark index is shining on the back of an improvement in iron ore and copper prices while taking a strong lead from gains on Wall Street," said Kunal Sawhney, chief executive officer of equity research firm Kalkine Group.

"It seems investors have already digested the weak employment report for October, which brought the labour market recovery into question." On Thursday, data showed employment in Australia suffered a shock fall in October and the jobless rate jumped.

Financials gained 0.6 per cent but were down 0.6 per cent for the week. Major lenders climbed between 0.04 per cent and 0.9 per cent on Friday.

Tech stocks rose 1.8 per cent and also helped the benchmark index close higher, with heavyweights Afterpay and Xero gaining 2 per cent and 3 per cent respectively. The sector tracked overnight gains in the tech-heavy Nasdaq.

New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index was down 0.91 per cent to 12,908.15.

REUTERS