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Dec 6 (Reuters) - Australian shares rallied on Tuesday, with financials and materials leading, following the latest in a string of upbeat data that showed further strength in the U.S. economy.
Wall Street rose overnight after U.S. services sector activity hit a one-year high in November, with a surge in production boosting hiring. .N
The S&P/ASX 200 index .AXJO snapped two sessions of losses to end up 0.5 percent, or 28.26 points, at 5,428.7.
The market was also buoyed by hopes that the central bank may still be leaving the door open to the possibility of another interest rate cut.
As expected, the Reserve Bank of Australia kept its cash rate unchanged at a policy meeting on Tuesday, but it sounded a note of caution on economic growth after a run of soft data pointed to a possible contraction in the third quarter. RPOLL
Third-quarter GDP will be released on Wednesday morning.
Australian financial stocks .AXFJ ended 0.3 percent higher in tune with the top three banks. National Australia Bank NAB.AX , though, fell 0.2 percent.
The energy index .AXEJ rose as much as 1.7 percent with Origin Energy ORG.AX leading the gains, rising nearly 3 percent.
Miners Rio Tinto (LON:RIO) Ltd RIO.AX and BHP Billiton (LON:BLT) Ltd BHP.AX rose 3 percent each as commodity prices rose on a weaker dollar. .DXY
Healthcare stocks Regis Healthcare REG.AX and Estia Health ltd EHE.AX were among the top gainers on the benchmark index
New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index .NZ50 ended 0.8 percent or 55.7 points higher at 6,910.36.
Financials and industrials led the gains, with ANZ Banking Group Ltd ANZ.NZ and Auckland International Airport AIA.NZ rising over 1.5 percent each.