By Soumyajit Saha
June 23 (Reuters) - Australian shares gained on Tuesday, tracking Wall Street indexes that rose overnight on hopes of more stimulus measures to combat a coronavirus-led economic slump, while higher oil prices boosted energy stocks.
The S&P/ASX 200 index .AXJO rose 0.47% to 5,972.2, on track for a third straight session of gains.
The main indexes on Wall Street rose between 0.59% and 1.11%, as investors held on to hopes for further government help from last week when both House Democrats and the Trump administration had said they were looking to provide more infrastructure-based stimulus. .N rising global COVID-19 cases weighed, with the World Health Organization saying Sunday's more than 183,000 new cases were highest for a single day yet. the IHS Markit June flash composite PMI for Australia rose to 52.6 from 26.4 in May. energy subindex .AXEJ rose 0.7%, as oil prices jumped on tighter crude supplies from major producers and easing lockdowns. O/R
Retailer Woolworths Group WOW.AX shed 0.6% after it said employees at its pub and hotels group ALH Hotels had been underpaid, and that the cost to remediate them would eat into its full-year operating profit. stocks .AXIJ rose 1.31% after Wall Street peers gained on help from a resurgent Apple Inc AAPL.O which announced new products at its annual conference for software developers. stocks .AXFJ rose 0.22% led by AMP Ltd AMP.AX , up 8.22% and the benchmark's top percentage gainer, after it said all regulatory approvals for the sale of AMP Life had been received. mining index .AXMM rose 0.98%, led by Alumina Ltd AWC.AX , up 4.86%.
The number of issues on the ASX that advanced were 533 while 200 declined.
In New Zealand, the benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index .NZ50 rose 0.27% to 11,188.9, helped by utility stocks like Meridian Energy MEL.NZ , which gained over 2%.