* Australia reports most daily virus casualties
* Financial stocks lead on Aussie benchmark
By Deepali Saxena
Aug 10 (Reuters) - Australian shares firmed on Monday, lifted by hopes that U.S. lawmakers could soon reach a deal for fresh fiscal stimulus, even as a resurgence in COVID-19 infections at home led to a record number of daily deaths.
The S&P/ASX 200 index .AXJO rose 0.7% to 6,045.9 points by 0056 GMT, rebounding from a 0.6% drop on Friday.
Investor sentiment was supported by expectations of further COVID-19 aid in the United States after the U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Sunday they were open to restarting talks after weeks of failed negotiations. stocks .AXFJ rose 1.3% and hit their highest level since July 31.
Gains on the sub-index were led by Magellan Financial Group MFG.AX , up 2.78%, followed by Credit Corp Group CCP.AX , gaining 2.5%.
The Big Four lenders added between 1.8% and 2.2%, with two of them slated to report earnings this week.
Meanwhile, Australia continued to see a rising death toll from the pandemic, although the number of new infections in the country's virus hot spot - state of Victoria - fell to a near two-week low. gold sub-index .AXGD dropped 0.5% after bullion prices slumped on Friday and snapped their recent record-breaking rally.
The country's biggest gold miner, Newcrest Mining NCM.AX , gave up 1.2% after confirming a COVID-19 case at its Lihir Island facility. New Zealand, the benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index .NZ50 advanced 0.5%, as the Pacific island nation crossed more than 100 days without a domestic transmission of the virus.
The top percentage gainers on the index .NZ50 were Westpac Banking WBC.NZ up 2.5%, Australia and New Zealand Banking Group ANZ.NZ up 2.3% and Pushpay Holdings PPH.NZ up 2%.