Australia: Shares track Wall Street higher; New Zealand down

[BENGALURU] Australian shares rose slightly on Friday in light year-end holiday trade, tracking Wall Street's gains overnight on optimism over an interim US-China trade agreement.

The S&P/ASX 200 index rose 0.2 per cent to 6,808.1 by 0036 GMT, after a 0.1 per cent gain on Tuesday. Markets were closed on Wednesday and Thursday on account of Christmas and Boxing Day.

All three Wall Street indexes settled higher on Thursday, boosted by hopes that Washington and Beijing would soon ink a trade deal and gains in Amazon.com after a report signalled robust online holiday sales in the United States.

"What we saw overnight in the United States was a continuation of positive momentum associated with trade optimism," said Ryan Felsman, senior economist at CommSec.

"A large part of that was on the back of commentary from the Chinese commerce ministry yesterday which basically affirmed that the trade deal with the US would be signed in January."

Increased optimism over global trade, along with a report of lower US crude inventories, helped oil prices rise to their highest level in more than three months on Thursday.

This helped energy stocks climb 0.4 per cent to a one-week high, with oil and gas major Woodside Petroleum gaining 0.5 per cent to its highest since Dec 20, while index heavyweight Santos strengthened 0.6 per cent.

Technology stocks rose the most, adding more than 1 per cent in their best intraday percentage gain since Dec. 17. Nearmap advanced about 2 per cent, while Afterpay rose nearly 5 per cent to an over three-week high.

Gold stocks climbed as much as 2.2 per cent to a four-week peak, as bullion prices surged to a near-two month high on Thursday. This helped the broader mining sector rise more than 1 per cent to its highest since Dec 18.

Gold producer Resolute Mining jumped nearly 7 per cent to a three-week high, while peer OceanaGold Corp surged as much as 7.2 per cent in its best intraday session since Aug 26.

Among losers, the utility sector slipped as much as 0.8 per cent, with electricity and gas retailer AGL Energy declining nearly 1 per cent.

New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index slipped 0.3 per cent to 11,608.95.

Adventure goods retailer Kathmandu Holdings shed 2.4 per cent to hit its lowest in more than a week, while electricity retailer Mercury NZ lost nearly 3 per cent in its biggest intraday drop since Nov 26.

REUTERS