Australian shares increase as resources improve, ANZ rebounds

Australian shares rose on Monday. Resources stocks gained due to higher underlying prices, and the lender ANZ Group recovered from its early losses despite reporting a decline in annual cash profits.

As of 2321 GMT, the S&P/ASX 200 was up 0.3% to 8,799.50. The benchmark index ended Friday 0.7% lower.

Andrew Hauser, Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia, said that the country's monetary policies are facing an unusually difficult challenge. He stressed the importance of maintaining a tight policy to control inflation, which, according to projections, will remain above the target level until mid-2026.

The Australian miners gained nearly 1% on the stock exchange after the copper price strengthened in the previous session. This was supported by the weakening of the U.S. Dollar.

Rio Tinto, a miner of iron ore, gained 0.3%. Pilbara Minerals, a lithium miner added 4.8%.

After the global oil price rose on Friday, energy stocks gave further support to benchmark with a 0.8% increase.

Woodside Energy, the energy giant, rose by nearly 1% in value earlier that day. Santos was largely flat.

Two of the four "Big Four" banks traded in the green, as financials gained 0.4%.

ANZ, Australia’s fourth largest lender by market capitalisation, recovered from initial losses to inch up 0.2%, even though the company reported a 14 percent drop in annual cash earnings.

Citi analysts said that "the result would be well received" and also added that the bank’s earnings were in line with their estimates.

The top lender in Australia, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, is expected to release its first-quarter earnings on Tuesday.

Other stocks on the exchange rose by 0.4% in technology, while those in health fell 0.2%.

On the back of rising bullion, gold stocks rose as much as 2%. This was their highest point since October 23.

Utilities gained 0.2%. This was driven by AGL Energy, the largest power producer in Australia, which saw a 2.4% increase after selling its 19.9% stake to Tilt Renewables for A$750m ($487.35m).

The benchmark S&P/NZX50 index in New Zealand fell by 0.3%, to 13,557.39 point.

(source: Reuters)