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By Soumyajit Saha
Aug 11 (Reuters) - Australian shares rose to three-week closing highs on Tuesday, helped by gains in heavyweight financials and iron ore miners, while signs of steadying employment and improving business conditions added to investor confidence.
The S&P/ASX 200 index .AXJO settled 0.5% higher at 6,138.7, its highest close since July 21, in low-volume trading.
Leading the charge, financials .AXFJ rose more than 1%, with the 'big four' banks climbing in a range of 1% to 2.7%.
"Among banks there is clearly a little bit of short-covering taking place before Commonwealth Bank's CBA.AX results, along with indications that the economy might not be doing as terribly as previously feared," said Henry Jennings, market analyst at Marcus Today Financial.
Lifting investor sentiment, data showed Australian employment was steady through July, while a measure of business conditions also improved as the service sector rebounded. state of Victoria, which has been grappling with a fresh wave of coronavirus cases, reported a small rise in new infections, boosting hopes that case numbers are stabilising as a result of the lockdown measures. gainers, shares of some iron ore miners rose as futures on China's Dalian Commodity Exchange jumped on falling portside inventories and upbeat demand, with BHP Group BHP.AX and Rio Tinto (LON:RIO) RIO.AX gaining 0.9% each. stocks .AXGD fell over 4% as bullion prices retreated on a stronger dollar. GOL/
Newcrest Mining NCM.AX , the country's largest independent gold miner, lost 2.8%, while Northern Star Resources NST.AX dropped 5%.
Among individual stocks, building materials giant James Hardie Industries JHX.AX soared 8% on steady first-quarter earnings and forecasting a potential rise in full-year profit. firm Mesoblast MSB.AX dropped more than 30% after a U.S. FDA committee questioned the efficacy of one of its leading drug candidates. Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index .NZ50 slipped 0.3% to 11,645.3, dragged by losses in healthcare and consumer stocks.