Australia: Shares end higher on plans to ease virus restrictions

[SYDNEY] Australian shares closed higher on Tuesday, as upbeat sentiment following the government's plans to further ease coronavirus-led restrictions outweighed grim forecasts from the central bank's policy meet.

The S&P/ASX 200 index ended 1.64 per cent higher at 5,407.1, but traded at only 70 per cent of its monthly average volumes. So far this year, the index has shed 20.41 per cent.

Australia and New Zealand discussed plans to open their borders to allow trans-Tasman travel as they looked to slowly reopen their economies.

"The (developments around) containment of the virus and a rising Aussie dollar are inspiring increased interest from global investors," said Mathan Somasundaram, portfolio strategist at Blue Ocean Equities.

Investors seem to want to go long on the Australian market as the country has controlled the outbreak well, which will help it in getting less impacted from the threat of US tariffs on China, Mr Somasundaram added.

The market looked past a forecast by the Reserve Bank of Australia which held its rates at record low of 0.25 per cent and said the economy would suffer its largest ever contraction in the first half of the year.

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The number of issues on the ASX that advanced were 987, while 564 declined.

In New Zealand, the benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index inched up 0.1 per cent to 10,490.73, helped by gains among financials and utility stocks. 

REUTERS