Australia: Shares inch higher as gold stocks shine; New Zealand rises

[BENGALURU] Australian shares rose in early trade on Tuesday, helped by gold miners, although the gains were capped by weakness in other mining stocks and a subdued finish on Wall Street overnight.

The S&P/ASX 200 index climbed 0.3 per cent to 7,302.3, after having closed slightly lower on Monday.

Gold miners dominated gains on the Australian benchmark, rising as much as 1 per cent. Sector heavyweight Newcrest Mining advanced as much as 1.2 per cent, while Northern Star Resources rose nearly 1 per cent.

Gold hovered near the key level of US$1,900 an ounce on Tuesday, as the dollar slid and bond yields weakened, with investors awaiting US inflation data later this week.

Denting sentiment, however, the S&P 500 ended a languid session slightly in the red, with investors standing by on news of a global minimum corporate tax rate, lingering inflation fears, and a lack of market-moving economic news.

Among individual stocks and sectors in Australia, tech stocks tracked the Nasdaq higher, gaining up to 0.6 per cent to hit their highest levels in a month.

Buy-now-pay-later juggernaut Afterpay rose nearly 1.6 per cent, while intelligence firm Nearmap added as much as 3.1 per cent.

In the financial sub-index, top lender Commonwealth Bank of Australia was down 0.2 per cent. The other big banks rose between 0.6 per cent and 0.9 per cent.

Miners fell up to 0.6 per cent as softer iron ore prices weighed.

The big miners Rio Tinto, BHP Group and Fortescue Metals were all down more than 1 per cent.

Among individual stocks, software maker Altium's shares dipped 4.7 per cent after surging as much as 40.6 per cent on Monday. The stock was among biggest percentage losers on the benchmark.

New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index traded 0.3 per cent higher.

REUTERS