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Aussie, NZ shares edge up on French vote, weaker ore price hurts miners

Published 24/04/2017, 01:37 pm
Updated 24/04/2017, 01:40 pm
© Reuters.  Aussie, NZ shares edge up on French vote, weaker ore price hurts miners

© Reuters. Aussie, NZ shares edge up on French vote, weaker ore price hurts miners

By Aparajita Saxena

April 24 (Reuters) - Australia shares edged up on Monday to their highest level in two weeks, as markets globally drew relief from centrist Emmanuel Macron winning the French presidential election's first round, but mining shares fell due to weaker metal prices.

Investors globally have been uneasy over the rise Marine le Pen, the far right leader who wants to take France out of the European Union, and while she will be Macron's opponent in the run-off, latest opinion polls show Macron is likely to emerge as the victor from the vote on May 7. wants to stay with the EU, which reflects steadiness in markets. The fact that he has won, and the fact that he is a centre left candidate, means he has got quite a good chance of winning, which is what markets are hoping for now," said Tony Farnham, economist at Paterson Securities.

The S&P/ASX 200 index .AXJO rose 9.26 points or 0.16 percent to 5,863.2 by 0258 GMT.

All four big banks were among the top gainers on the benchmark .AXJO , adding around 0.2 percent to the overall gains.

Insurers also added gains, and lifted the financials index .AXFJ to its highest in two weeks. General insurer Steadfast Group SDF.AX hit a record high after rising as much as 1 percent.

Oil majors rose, lifting the energy index .AXEJ 0.32 percent on the back of firmer oil prices which recovered from last week's big losses, driven by expectations that OPEC will extend a pledge to cut output in 2017. O/R

Qantas Airways QAN.AX and rival Virgin Australia VAH.AX also contributed to the uptrend, rising 1.5 percent and 2.6 percent respectively.

Drags on the index came from iron miners BHP Billiton (LON:BLT) BHP.AX , Fortescue Metals FMG.AX and Rio Tinto (LON:RIO) RIO.AX after the most-active iron ore on the Dalian Commodity Exchange .DCIOcv1 fell 2 percent.

Gold miners Evolution Mining EVN.AX , Newcrest Mining NCM.AX , OceanaGold OGC.AX and Alacer Gold Corp AQG.AX slumped on a dip in the gold price XAU= . Amatil CCL.AX slumped as much as 4.4 percent to its lowest in five months following earnings guidance on Friday for a weak performance in the first half of 2017. giant Wesfarmers WES.AX slipped 0.5 percent, while rival Woolworths WOW.AX rose half a percent.

New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index .NZ50 rose 0.42 percent or 30.16 points to 7,227.38, led by consumer discretionary and material stocks.

The country's biggest listed construction company, Fletcher Building FBU.NZ led gains, followed by telecom company Chorus Ltd CNU.NZ , which rose as much as 3.56 percent.

For more individual stocks activity click on STXBZ

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