By Swati Pandey and Charlotte Greenfield
SYDNEY/WELLINGTON, Nov 17 (Reuters) - Australian shares climbed more than 1 percent on Tuesday in broad-based gains helped by a rebound on Wall Street.
Investors were cautious, however, given soft prices for metals and iron ore and ongoing worries about a global slowdown.
The S&P/ASX 200 index .AXJO rose 52.68 points to 5,056.5 by 0122 GMT. The benchmark closed 0.9 percent lower on Monday.
The index lost nearly 2.5 percent in just the last two sessions and is down about 7 percent so far this year. November is set to be the market's worst showing since September.
"One might reasonably have expected the market to be a little stronger than it is, but after the recent selloff and with macro concerns still swirling about, caution appears to be the better part of valour at the moment," Chris Conway, Head of Research at Australian Stock Report.
"Bottom line is, today's strength is welcome and it was certainly encouraging to see U.S. markets essentially ignore the events of the weekend and press higher overnight."
Major banks led gains on Tuesday with CBA CBA.AX up 1.64 percent while National Australia Bank NAB.AX and ANZ ANZ.AX added about 1 percent each.
Miners BHP Billiton (L:BLT) BHP.AX and Rio Tinto (L:RIO) RIO.AX rose 0.75 and 1 percent respectively.
QBE Insurance Group QBE.AX slipped over 3 percent to its lowest level since September after it warned that its gross written premiums were under pressure. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N13C058
For more individual stocks activity click on STXBZ
Wall Street had its strongest session in three weeks on Monday, as investors bet Friday's attacks in Paris would have little long-term impact on the U.S. economy and corporate earnings. .N
New Zealand's benchmark NZX 50 index .NZ50 rose 0.23 percent or 13.780 points to 5,975.450 on Tuesday, bouncing back from its slip to a three-week low the day before.
Dairy company A2 Milk ATM.NZ soared 9.89 percent after it raised earnings forecast and predicted its operating EBITDA for FY16 would be NZ$22 million ($14.26 million), compared to a previous forecast of $12 million. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nASXc4xmX8
Air New Zealand AIR.NZ was up 2.55 percent, while accounting software company Xero XRO.NZ rose 1.06 percent.
Shares in Fonterra's FCG.NZ fund, which provides investor exposure to the farmer-owned dairy exporter, edged up by 0.18 percent as investors waited for the results of the fortnightly global dairy auction early on Wednesday morning which sets milk prices.