Australian shares mark third straight weekly gain on resources boost
Gold, energy stocks drive benchmark higher for day
Miners record double-digit gain since start of year
Whitehaven Coal expects H1 profit to more than quadruple
Updates to close
By Archishma Iyer
Jan 20 (Reuters) -Australian shares posted their third consecutive weekly gain as gold and energy stocks helped markets close slightly higher on Friday amid rising fears of a global recession.
The S&P/ASX 200 index .AXJO closed 0.2% higher at 7,452.2 after rising 0.6% on Thursday. It rose 1.5% this week, extending its year-to-date gain to about 5.9%, as resources stocks rallied on China demand prospects.
U.S. data pointing to a tight labour market renewed concerns that the Federal Reserve would continue its aggressive path of interest rate hikes that could lead the world's largest economy into a recession.
Comments from a few Fed officials advocating more rate hikes to bring down inflation also weighed on investor sentiment.
"Central banks are keeping conditions tight as economies slow down and that will flow into the reporting season," said Mathan Somasundaram, chief executive officer at Deep Data Analytics.
Market participants now await the local quarterly inflation report due next Wednesday, which will likely influence the Reserve Bank of Australia's decision at its next meeting. nL1N34507O
Gold stocks .AXGD rose 2.2% and posted their third straight weekly gain. Sector leaders Newcrest Mining NCM.AX and Northern Star Resources NST.AX firmed 2.4% and 2.3%, respectively.
Energy stocks .AXEJ followed closely with a rise of 1.4%, with Woodside Energy WDS.AX and Santos STO.AX adding 0.7% and 1.5%, respectively.
Miners .AXMM gained about 1% as iron ore prices in top steel producer China advanced on higher demand. Sector majors Rio Tinto RIO.AX, BHP Group BHP.AX and Fortescue Metals FMG.AX climbed between 0.1% and 1%. IRONORE/
Mining and gold stocks have risen more than 10% since the start of the year.
Among individual stocks, Whitehaven Coal WHC.AX emerged as one of the top gainers on the benchmark with a 6.1% jump, after the company said it expected profit for the first half of fiscal 2023 to more than quadruple due to strong pricing.
New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index .NZ50 rose 0.8% to 11,977.5.
Reporting by Archishma Iyer in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu
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