* Aussie government announces wage subsidies of over A$1 bln
* Reserve Bank of Australia set for policy meet on Tuesday
* Victoria state set to further ease virus-led restrictions
By Soumyajit Saha
Oct 5 (Reuters) - Australian shares rose more than 2% on Monday after the government announced plans to earmark additional wage subsidies to help spur employment, and as investors continued to hope for a swifter recovery of U.S. President Donald Trump.
The S&P/ASX 200 index .AXJO was up 2.3% at 5,926.2, as of 0017 GMT. The index is down 13.4% so far this year.
Doctors treating President Donald Trump for COVID-19 sent conflicting signals about the severity of his condition on Sunday, hours before the president surprised supporters gathered outside the hospital with an impromptu motorcade. home, the Australian government said it will earmark an additional A$1.2 bln ($860.16 mln) in wage subsidies in the federal budget, on the assumption of a coronavirus vaccine next year. to the positive sentiment, authorities in virus hotspot Victoria said they were on track to further ease social distancing restrictions in the coming weeks, though the state reported an uptick in new cases. participants also kept an eye out for the Reserve Bank of Australia's monthly policy meeting on Tuesday, though a Reuters poll showed the central bank will likely hold key rates. sectors, energy stocks .AXEJ jumped 3.4% alongside oil prices ambling up. Brent crude LCOc1 futures rose 0.25%, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude CLc1 gained 0.51%.
Financials .AXFJ also surged about 3%, with the so-called "Big Four" banks gaining in the range of between 2.7% and 3.9%.
Heavyweight mining stocks .AXMM climbed 1.7%, with global miners BHP Group BHP.AX and Rio Tinto (LON:RIO) RIO.AX rising 1.9% and 1.7%, respectively.
The top percentage gainer in the .AXJO was CIMIC Group Ltd CIM.AX after the engineering services group climbed 5.2%.
The number of issues on the ASX that advanced was 857, while 291 declined.
Across the Tasman Sea, New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index .NZ50 was marginally lower at 11,817.79, weighed by losses among tech, industrial and consumer stocks.
($1 = 1.3951 Australian dollars)