Banks boost Aussie shares higher; investors brace for corporate earnings
The S&P/ASX 200 index rose 0.4% to 8,703.7 points by 0049 GMT, putting it less than 100 points below the lifetime high of 8,776.4 hit in mid June. The benchmark had dipped 0.5% on Friday.
The earnings season begins this week, with mining major Rio Tinto set to lead the way when it reports its half-year results on July 30.
Meanwhile, investors are awaiting the local inflation print, also due on Wednesday, for clues on the Reserve Bank of Australia's (RBA) path for interest rate cuts.
On the local bourse, financials rose 0.5%, with the country's "Big Four" banks gaining between 0.2% and 0.7%.
Technology stocks added 0.8%, tracking advances in Wall Street futures after the United States struck a trade deal with the European Union.
Gold stocks climbed 1.2%, supported by a 4.7% rise in Bellevue Gold after its strong quarterly production update.
Healthcare stocks grew 1.3%, while real estate stocks rose 0.8%, broadly in line with the benchmark.
Miners lost 0.4% as iron ore prices fell.
Energy stocks shed 0.5%, dragged down by uranium miner Boss Energy, which plummeted as much as 40.3% after warning of higher costs for its Honeymoon project in FY26 due to a decline in average tenor.
Among individual stocks, logistics software maker WiseTech Global rose as much as 0.6% after naming chief of staff Zubin Appoo as its permanent chief executive, succeeding billionaire co-founder Richard White.
New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index added 0.6% to 12,928.96 points. (Reporting by Adwitiya Srivastava in Bengaluru; Editing by Sumana Nandy)
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