* Energy sector leads gains
* Santos, Origin Energy gain more than 4% each
* Financials, miners advance
By Aby Jose Koilparambil
Aug 22 (Reuters) - Australian shares advanced on Thursday as upbeat earnings from local firms and U.S. retailers lifted sentiment even as many investors remained anxious about the outlook for economic growth.
Wall Street's main indexes rose overnight after retailers posted solid earnings in a welcome sign of strength in U.S. consumer demand. .N
The S&P/ASX 200 index .AXJO 0.5% to 6,513.20 by 0137 GMT. The benchmark had declined 0.9% on Wednesday following a 2.2% gain over the first two trading sessions of the week.
The solid corporate earnings provide much-needed relief to financial markets which have been roiled over recent months by the Sino-U.S. trade war and the broadening economic fallout of the dispute.
The energy sector .AXEJ , which has put on more than 6% so far this week thanks to stronger oil, led the gains with gas firm Santos LTd STO.AX and electricity & gas retailer Origin Energy Ltd ORG.AX catapulting the sub-index over 2%. O/R
"The push in the market is definitely coming from the oil and gas sector. It has been a bit sold down. The jump is not significant but there is just some recovery happening in the market," said CPS Capital associate director Dale Raynes.
Santos advanced up to 4.4% after country's No.2 independent gas producer posted a 89% jump in half-year profit, boosted by its acquisition of Quadrant Energy and strong output from its Cooper Basin fields in South Australia. Energy jumped 4.4% after it reported a 41.6% rise in its annual underlying profit, helped by robust production at its Australia Pacific LNG project. Coles Group COL.AX rose 4.5% as the announcement of a special dividend along with strong online sales overshadowed an annual profit drop. largest airline Qantas Airways Ltd QAN.AX rallied 3.5% as investors cheered its A$400 million ($271.00 million) share buyback announcement, putting behind the disappointing earnings results. underpinning the market were mining giants BHP Group BHP.AX and Rio Tinto (LON:RIO) RIO.AX , with the duo putting on about 1% each.
Miner South32 Ltd S32.AX , however, slipped 0.6% after reporting a 25% drop in annual underlying profit. .AXFJ , a major benchmark constituent, gained 0.4% with all the 'Big Four' banks eking out gains.
New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index .NZ50 rose 0.1% to 10,724.19, led by medical products distributor EBOS Group Ltd EBO.NZ , which rose about 4%.
($1 = 1.4760 Australian dollars)