Australia: Shares hit record high on economic growth cheer

[BENGALURU] Australian shares hit a record high on Thursday, extending gains made from the country's stronger-than-expected first-quarter economic growth data, with high commodity prices lifting the resource-heavy benchmark index further.

The ASX 200 index climbed 0.6 per cent to 7,261.00 by 0026 GMT, after having closed 1.1% higher on Wednesday.

Sentiment was buoyant from Australia's solid economic growth data on Wednesday that showed output had returned to pre-Covid-19 levels, while the energy and gold indexes jumped on firmer commodity prices.

The energy index climbed nearly 2 per cent to gain most on the benchmark and to its highest since April 16, as oil prices hit a more than 1-year high on Opec+ decision to stick with its plan to ease supply cuts through July.

Natural gas majors Woodside Petroleum and Santos added 2.3 per cent each.

Financial stocks followed suit, rising 0.7 per cent, with the "big four" banks gaining between 0.7 per cent and 1 per cent.

Miners added 0.7 per cent to hit their highest in two weeks as iron ore prices jumped on hopes of easing production curbs for steel products.

Tech stocks tracked Nasdaq higher to rise 0.5 per cent.

Gold stocks advanced 0.8 per cent as bullion inched up, with Red 5 gaining 2.9 per cent to be the best performer.

In New Zealand, the benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index traded up 0.5 per cent to 12,446.680.

In other markets, Japan's Nikkei was up 0.6 per cent at 29,107.57, while the S&P 500 E-minis futures were up 4.5 points, or 0.11 per cent.

REUTERS