Australian shares rise on mining boost; adds 2% in March quarter
Benchmark snaps 7-week losing streak
Ends March quarter 2% higher
RBA to go for a final 25 bps hike - Reuters poll
RBNZ to downshift to 25 bps increase in April - Reuters poll
Updates to close
By Poonam Behura
March 31 (Reuters) -A rally in mining and gold stocks boosted Australian shares on Friday, ending the first quarter of 2023 about 2% higher, as the country's soft inflation data and easing global banking crisis fears raised bets of a pause in rate-hike cycle next week.
The S&P/ASX 200 index .AXJO ended the day 0.8% higher at 7,177.8 points, their highest close since March 9. The benchmark advanced 3.2% during the week, snapping a seven-week losing streak and notched 1.98% gains over March quarter.
Traders in Australia are hopeful of a pause in Reserve Bank of Australia's (RBA) policy meeting on April 4 as recent economic data suggests a cumulative 350 basis point (bps) hike since May last year have started to impact growth.
However, 14 of 27 economists polled by Reuters also predict that the RBA could go for a final 25 bps hike, while the remaining 13 of them saw a pause at 3.60%.
"We will see another rate hike by the RBA simply because inflation is moving in the right direction but is still stubbornly high," Josh Gilbert, market analyst at eToro said.
Meanwhile, in the aftermath of a banking crisis overseas, deposit competition among the country's lenders has picked up in the past few months, with upward pressure on wholesale funding costs expected to rise further, analysts at Morgan Stanley said in a note.
Back home, gold stocks .AXGD rallied 2.2% to a near 11-month high. Resolute Mining RSG.AX soared 8.3% and was the top gainer on the sub-index.
Miners .AXMM advanced 2.1%, staging their biggest weekly gain since early November, with majors like Rio Tinto RIO.AX and BHP Group BHP.AX adding 2.5% each.
New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index .NZ50 fell 0.4% to finish the session at 11,884.5.
The Reserve Bank of New Zealand is expected to scale back its tightening pace to a quarter-point rate hike on April 5, a Reuters poll showed, although economists were split on where the rates would peak.
Reporting by Poonam Behura; editing by Uttaresh Venkateshwaran
For more information on DIARIES & DATA: U.S. earnings diary RESF/US Wall Street Week Ahead .N/O Global Economy Week Ahead DATA/ ................................................................ For latest top breaking news across all markets NEWS1
免責聲明: XM Group提供線上交易平台的登入和執行服務，允許個人查看和/或使用網站所提供的內容，但不進行任何更改或擴展其服務和訪問權限，並受以下條款與條例約束：（i）條款與條例；（ii）風險提示；（iii）完全免責聲明。網站內部所提供的所有資訊，僅限於一般資訊用途。請注意，我們所有的線上交易平台內容並不構成，也不被視為進入金融市場交易的邀約或邀請 。金融市場交易會對您的投資帶來重大風險。
所有缐上交易平台所發佈的資料，僅適用於教育/資訊類用途，不包含也不應被視爲適用於金融、投資稅或交易相關諮詢和建議，或是交易價格紀錄，或是任何金融商品或非應邀途徑的金融相關優惠的交易邀約或邀請。
本網站的所有XM和第三方所提供的内容，包括意見、新聞、研究、分析、價格其他資訊和第三方網站鏈接，皆爲‘按原狀’，並作爲一般市場評論所提供，而非投資建議。請理解和接受，所有被歸類為投資研究範圍的相關内容，並非爲了促進投資研究獨立性，而根據法律要求所編寫，而是被視爲符合營銷傳播相關法律與法規所編寫的内容。請確保您已詳讀並完全理解我們的非獨立投資研究提示和風險提示資訊，相關詳情請點擊 這裡查看。
