* Shares jump after hitting 2-year lows on Tuesday
* Banks, miners among top gainers
* Energy-related shares among top losers
* 161 shares up, 30 down and 9 unchanged (Adds analysis, quotes, stocks on the move)
By Swati Pandey and Cecile Lefort
SYDNEY/WELLINGTON, Sept 30 (Reuters) - Australian shares rose 0.7 percent on Wednesday after hitting a two-year low in the previous session led by gains in banks and miners, although investors continued to be cautious on persistent worries about global growth and China.
The S&P/ASX 200 index .AXJO rose 35.6 points to 4,954 by 0153 GMT, paring gains after hitting an intra-day high of 4,998.8.
The benchmark tumbled 3.8 percent on Tuesday, posting its biggest drop since Aug. 24.
The index is on track for its biggest daily percentage gain since Sept. 9 but will still end the month down about 5 percent, following on from August's 8.6 percent drop.
The benchmark has now lost 9.3 percent in the September quarter, on track for its poorest quarterly showing since 2011.
"The market is rebounding from yesterday's falls but it is a short-term thing," said Danial Moradi, equity strategist at Lonsec.
"We think that it's likely the selling pressure will return led by overseas markets. Negative pressure from the resources sector will continue."
Moradi expects the market to touch 4,600-4,700 levels, after it breached a key psychological support of 5,000 on Tuesday.
The market's recent rout has forced most strategists to slash their year-end expectations, but a new Reuters poll shows the index will still end 2015 roughly 6 percent above Tuesday's close.
Major banks led the gains on Wednesday with ANZ Banking ANZ.AX and NAB NAB.AX rising 0.7 percent each.
Miner Rio Tinto (LONDON:RIO) RIO.AX surged 2.4 percent after agreeing to sell 40 percent stake in its coal mine to New Hope Corp NHC.AX . ID:nL3N11Z5O8 New Hope was trading up 1.8 percent.
Energy provider AGL AGL.AX slipped about 4 percent after it said it expects underlying profit to rise between A$650-A$720 million for 2015/16 compared with analysts' expectations of A$707 million.
Slater & Gordon
In contrast, New Zealand's benchmark NZX 50 index .NZ50 dropped to a three-week trough to stand 0.3 percent lower at 5,594.0. It was on track for a loss of 1 percent in September, which would be the second consecutive month of decline.
Energy-related shares were hit by a fall in oil prices. Shares in Genesis Energy GNE.NZ tumbled 5.6 percent, its second largest daily loss this year.
Yet, New Zealand's state-run pension fund and utilities investor Infratil IFT.NZ managed to outperform after the market cheered the sale of a stake in petrol retailer Z Energy Ltd ZEL.NZ .