SYDNEY/WELLINGTON, July 21 (Reuters) - New Zealand shares charted new highs on Thursday and Australian shares also made more modest gains, tracking positive overseas leads and traders' expectations of monetary easing.
The S&P/ASX 200 index .AXJO rose 33.5 points to 5522.3 by 0150 GMT. The benchmark has gained 0.61 percent in morning trade on Thursday and has traded in positive territory for 10 of the past 11 sessions.
"I think essentially it's because of lower interest rates," said Bill Keenan, the general manager of direct equities at Melbourne broker Lonsec.
"After the Brexit, interest rates moved lower globally and the main change has probably been the Fed staying on hold. The RBA is thought to have an easing bias and interest rates are key driver of the share market."
Gold miners weighed on the index, but other sectors all rose, with the health, retail and financial stocks all showing gains.
In the healthcare sector Cochlear Ltd COH.AX , which manufactures implants to treat hearing loss, added 2.89 percent and biopharmaceutical researcher CSL Ltd CSL.AX climbed 2.1 percent. Retailers Woolworths and Wesfarmers rose 1 percent and 0.4 percent respectively. Agribuisness company Graincorp Ltd GNC.AX added 1.3 percent.
Westpac Banking Corporation WBC.AX led modest, but broad-based gains in the financial sector, with a 1.3 percent rise.
Gold miners traded lower after spot gold XAU= reached three-week lows on Wednesday. Newcrest Mining Ltd NCM.AX fell 3.66 percent. Western Australian gold juniors Regis Resources Ltd RRL.AX and Northern Star Resources Ltd NST.AX lost substantially with Regis down 6.95 percent and Northern Start down 6.2 percent.
Shares in stevedore Qube Holdings Ltd QUB.AX rose 5.9 percent after Australia's antitrust watchdog gave the green light to a Qube's buyout of rail freight giant Asciano Ltd AIO.AX , as part of a global consortium. Asciano shares rose 1 percent. Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index .NZ50 rose 0.7 percent or 50 points to 7,222.20, tracking positive leads offshore and as investors were cheered by the prospect of lower interest rates for longer.
In an economic update out earlier on Thursday New Zealand's central bank flagged more rate cuts to come. NL1A64P3
The biggest gainers were accounting software provider Xero XRO.NZ , up 3.1 percent and exporter Fisher & Paykel Healthcare FPH.NZ rising 2.5 percent, benefiting from a weaker New Zealand dollar after the central bank announcement.
The biggest losers included New Zealand Refining NZR.NZ down 3.1 percent. Earlier on Thursday Deutsche Bank (DE:DBKGn) cut its price target to NZ$3.05 from NZ$3.65.
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