By Colin Packham and Charlotte Greenfield
SYDNEY/WELLINGTON, Jan 13 (Reuters) - Australian shares rose for the first time in nine sessions on Wednesday, snapping the longest losing streak in 5-1/2-years, with market sentiment likely to be driven by Chinese trade data due later in the day.
The S&P/ASX 200 index .AXJO rose 0.7 percent, or 34.57 points, to 4,959.7 by 0115 GMT. The benchmark closed down 0.14 percent on Tuesday, the eighth consecutive daily fall, having touched a 2-1/2-year low of 4,880.1 earlier in the week.
The S&P/ASX 200 index last had eight consecutive losing sessions in mid-2010.
Analysts said that despite the ASX rebounding, further losses would be likely if Chinese trade data disappoints, further fuelling concerns over China's economic slowdown.
"Everybody is expecting to see some sort of relief, given how savage the sell-off has been and that is why the market is up today, but what happens with the Chinese data will dictate the whether the market can sustain these gains," said Evan Lucas, market strategist at IG in Melbourne.
Australian financials were the strongest performing asset class, with Australia and New Zealand Banking Group ANZ.AX , Westpac Banking Corp WBC.AX and Commonwealth Bank of Australia CBA.AX and National Australia Bank NAB.AX all up nearly 1 percent.
Australia's energy sector also rose, despite continued weakness in the oil market.
Santos Ltd STO.AX rose more than 2 percent, having earlier hit a 19-year low, while Origin Energy Ltd ORG.AX rose 1.6 percent after earlier hitting a 12-year low.
U.S. oil futures rose on Wednesday for the first time in eight days, but prices continued to linger near the $30 a barrel level beached in the previous session.
Rio Tinto (L:RIO) RIO.AX rose for the first time in three sessions, having hit a 5-1/2-year low earlier in the session, while BHP Billiton (L:BLT) BHP.AX fell nearly 2 percent as prices hit a low of $14.52 a share - the lowest since May 2005.
New Zealand's benchmark NZX 50 index .NZ50 rose 0.23 percent or 13.98 points to 6,126.33 on Wednesday, headed for its second session of gains.
Dairy company A2 Milk ATM.NZ led gains, rising 2.25 percent while Sky TV SKT.NZ was up 1.4 percent.
Air New Zealand AIR.NZ rose 1.02 percent and Auckland Airport AIA.NZ was up 0.71 percent.
Fletcher Building FBU.NZ rose 1.33 percent, recovering from five consecutive sessions of losses.
Online auction site Trade Me TME.NZ fell 2.42 percent as investors took profits. The stock had risen as much as 3.7 percent in the previous session after it announced it would change its pricing to members who sell goods online.