Australia: Shares hit record high on financial gains, robust James Hardie earnings

[BENGALURU] Australian shares touched an all-time high on Tuesday, boosted by financial stocks and strong earnings from blue-chip companies fibre cement maker James Hardie and annuities provider Challenger.

The S&P/ASX 200 index rose 0.41 per cent to a record high of 7,569.4 points by 0043 GMT. The benchmark closed flat on Monday at 7,538.4 points.

Elsewhere, Japan's Nikkei was up 0.43 per cent at 27940.83, while S&P 500 E-minis futures were up 0.01 per cent. Financials rose 0.6 per cent as Commonwealth Bank of Australia and Australia and New Zealand Banking Group gained as much as 0.8 per cent and 0.6 per cent, respectively.

Financial services firm IOOF Holdings led gains on the sub-index, rising 2.61 per cent, followed by Suncorp Group, gaining 2.35 per cent.

Investor focus in now on earnings as companies started to report their results in earnest this week.

The world's largest fibre cement maker, James Hardie Industries PLC rose as much as 5.8 per cent to hit a record high on raising its annual adjusted profit forecast after its first-quarter adjusted earnings climbed 50 per cent.

Shares of Challenger climbed as much as 3.3 per cent after the company posted an annual net profit after tax of A$592.3 million (S$588.6 million), undoing the A$416 million loss in the prior pandemic-hit period.

Gold stocks were the biggest drag on the index, falling nearly 1 per cent, after the precious metal slumped to a more than four-month low overnight.

Gold miners Ramelius Resources and Geopacific Resources dragged on the sub-index the most, slipping 3.42 per cent and 3.08 per cent, respectively.

Across the Tasman Sea, New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index rose 0.3 per cent to 12,738.6 points.

REUTERS