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Financials spur Australian shares; NZ also rises

Published 28/02/2017, 12:19 pm
Updated 28/02/2017, 12:20 pm
© Reuters.  Financials spur Australian shares; NZ also rises

© Reuters. Financials spur Australian shares; NZ also rises

By Ambar Warrick

Feb 28 (Reuters) - Australian shares rose on Tuesday, bolstered by buying in financial stocks as fund managers looked to improve their portfolios' performance before the end of the month.

"Financials are doing the 10 point lifting", said Evan Lucas, market strategist at IG Markets. "It is the last day of the month, so you do slightly get window dressing trading going on ".

The S&P/ASX 200 index .AXJO rose 26.5 points or 0.5 percent to 5750.5 points by 0044 GMT, putting it on track to gain more than 2 percent in February after a reasonable earnings season. The benchmark fell 0.3 percent on Monday.

The financial index .AXFJ rose as much as 1 percent in early trade, with Westpac Banking Corp WBC.AX taking the lead among gainers on the index.

National Australia Bank Ltd NAB.AX rose 1.3 percent to an 18-month high, while wealth management company AMP Ltd AMP.AX rose as much as 3.4 percent.

Commonwealth Bank of Australia CBA.AX rose as much as 1 percent.

The country's biggest mortgage lender said on Tuesday it had allocated A$1.45 billion ($1.1 billion) in hybrid securities at a margin of 390 basis points over the bank bill swap rate. contributing to gains were energy stocks, as the energy index rose posted its biggest intra-day percentage gain since December 2016.

Engineering services provider WorleyParsons Ltd WOR.AX led the gains with a record intra-day percentage gain, rising to its highest since July 2015.

"It (Worley Parsons) is a big jump. Movement in the energy space is the big one and it is the big standout in terms of what you can see".

Oil and gas producer Santos Ltd STO.AX and energy provider Origin Energy Ltd ORG.AX rose 2.4 percent apiece.

On the other side, laundry services provider Spotless Group Holdings Ltd SPO.AX touched a record low, posting its biggest intra-day percentage fall since December 2015.

The company reported a net loss of A$358.1 million for the half-year ended December 31 2016, compared to a profit of A$64.7 million from the previous year. miners Newcrest Mining Ltd NCM.AX and Evolution Mining Ltd EVN.AX shed as much as 4.7 percent and 7.4 percent respectively, as gold prices fell after tapping a 3-1/2-month high on Monday. GOL/

New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index .NZ50 rose 0.31 percent or 22.21 points to 7101.39.

Telecom and healthcare stocks were the biggest gainers, with telecomunications provider Spark New Zealand Ltd SPK.NZ rising as much as 1.7 percent.

Fisher & Paykel Healthcare Corporation Ltd FPH.NZ touched a week's high after rising 1.12 percent

For more individual stocks activity click on STXBZ

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