Australia: Shares rise on BHP-Woodside's final nod on US$12b project

[BENGALURU] Australian shares ended higher on Tuesday (Nov 23), buoyed by gains in the mining and energy sectors, a day after BHP Group and Woodside Petroleum gave the final sign-off on their US$12 billion Scarborough LNG project.

The S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.78 per cent to close at 7,410.6, marking its best session since Nov 12, after a 0.59 per cent fall in the previous session.

The mining index climbed 2.5 per cent, boosted by BHP's 4 per cent jump after the mining giant and Woodside late on Monday (Nov 22) gave their final go-ahead to develop the Scarborough gas field and inked an agreement to merge BHP's petroleum assets into Woodside.

A sharp rise in the price of iron ore also supported the sector. Iron ore miner Fortescue climbed 9.8 per cent, its biggest single-day gain in almost a year. Rio Tinto gained 3.6 per cent.

"The iron ore strength helps, with the BHP-Woodside (merger), more details on that merger also helped and we are seeing a little bit of a bounce back in the banks, of course, which has helped as well," said Henry Jennings, senior analyst and portfolio manager at Marcustoday Financial Newsletter.

Woodside led the way for energy stocks as it rose 3.5 per cent to record its best session in almost a month. The sub-index gained 2.5 per cent.

Smaller rivals Santos and Oil Search also rose 2.1 per cent and 1.5 per cent, respectively.

Tracking overnight Wall Street losses, tech stocks plunged 3.5 per cent in their worst session in more than 6 months.

Jennings attributed Afterpay's 5.4 per cent fall to Square's 6.1 per cent drop overnight, adding that since Afterpay was almost a derivative of Square, the two often moved in tandem.

Xero and Wisetech Global also dropped 3.5% per cent and 5.6 per cent, respectively.

Across the Tasman Sea, New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 rose 0.64 per cent to end at 12,688.53.

REUTERS