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Dec 13 (Reuters) - Real estate stocks boosted Australian shares to their highest close in a month on Wednesday, buoyed by gains in shopping centre company Westfield Corp WFD.AX after it received a takeover offer from France's Unibail-Rodamco SE UNBP.AS .
The S&P/ASX 200 index .AXJO rose 0.14 percent or 8.600 points to 6,021.800 at the close of trade, registering a fifth consecutive session of gains. The benchmark climbed 0.25 percent on Tuesday.
U.S. and UK mall operator Westfield surged 13.7 percent to its highest since Oct. 2016 , pushing the index up, after saying it would accept a $16 billion takeover bid from Europe's biggest property firm Unibail-Rodamco. real-estate stocks Scentre Group SCG.AX and Stockland Corporation Ltd SGP.AX gained 1.6 percent and 0.6 percent, respectively.
"We've got some news of takeovers which is buoying the market," said Ben Le Brun, an analyst at Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW) Australia.
Cleanaway Waste Management Ltd CWY.AX also supported the upward march of the index as it jumped 8.4 percent and was among the top percentage gainers on the benchmark.
The waste management company had said on Monday it would buy smaller rival Tox Free Solutions TOX.AX for A$3.425 per share in cash, valuing Tox at A$671 million ($508.48 million) on a diluted basis. the other hand, banks reversed gains earlier in the session and were the biggest drag, with the Australian financial index .AXFJ dipping 0.2 percent, snapping five consecutive sessions of gains.
Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd ANZ.AX fell 0.5 percent, pulling the benchmark down, while Commonwealth Bank of Australia CBA.AX declined slightly.
Across the Tasman, New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index .NZ50 rose 0.05 percent or 3.770 points to finish the session at 8,284.580, stretching a winning run to a fifth consecutive session.
Construction company Fletcher Building Ltd FBU.NZ accounted for most of the gains as it climbed 1.4 percent to a more than 1-1/2-month high.
($1 = 1.3196 Australian dollars)