Australia: Woodside, BHP lift shares higher on green-lighting US$12b project

[BENGALURU] Australian shares rose on Tuesday, led by miners and energy stocks, as Woodside Petroleum and BHP Group jumped after giving green light to their US$12 billion Scarborough LNG project.

The S&P/ASX 200 index rose 0.6 per cent to 7393 by 0018 GMT.

Woodside Petroleum and BHP Group were among top boosts to the benchmark, rising over 3 per cent each, after they gave their final go-aheads to develop the Scarborough gas field off Western Australia and expand the Pluto liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant.

The country's energy index rose 1.7 per cent, tracking its best day in more than a week, after oil prices rebounded from recent losses on reports that Opec+ could adjust plans to raise oil production if large consuming countries release crude from their reserves.

Sector heavyweights Oil Search and Santos jumped 1 per cent and 1.9 per cent, respectively.

Miners were also up 1.9 per cent to their highest level since September and set for their fourth straight session of gains.

Iron prices rose more than 4 per cent, sending heavyweights Rio Tinto and Fortescue up by 3 per cent and 5.8 per cent, respectively.

Bucking the trend, tech index dropped 3.5 per cent, with buy-now-pay-later giant Afterpay plunging more than 5 per cent to its lowest since July 30.

Australia's gold stocks also dropped 2.5 per cent after the bullion eased to hover near a two week low, weighed down by a firmer dollar and expectations that rising inflation might push the Federal Reserve to accelerate its monetary policy tightening.

Gold miners Wiluna Mining Corp, Silver Lake Resources and West African Resources were among the top losers, with sector heavyweight Newcrest Mining falling 1.4 per cent.

New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index rose 0.4 per cent to 12,663.72.

REUTERS