Westpac lifts Australian shares higher, miners and oil firms cap gains

© Reuters.

May 3 (Reuters) - Australian shares rose on Monday, boosted by gains in the country's second-biggest lender Westpac Banking Corp after upbeat earnings, but gains were capped by losses in miners and energy companies on weak commodity prices.

The S&P/ASX 200 index .AXJO was up 0.5% at 7,059.5 as at 0034 GMT.​

The top percentage gainers on the .AXJO were Charter Hall Group CHC.AX , up 1.14%, followed by Ampol Ltd ALD.AX , gaining 1.06% and Blackmores Ltd BKL.AX , rising 1.06%.

Financial stocks .AXFJ were the biggest percentage gainers, adding about 1.5%, with Australia and New Zealand Banking Group ANZ.AX and Commonwealth Bank of Australia CBA.AX gaining 0.5% each.

Westpac WBC.AX jumped as much as 4.4%, after it reported a near three-fold jump in its first-half cash earnings, and it laid out a three-year plan to cut costs. .AXMM were down 0.4% led by De Grey Mining Ltd DEG.AX , down 1.4%, followed by Aurelia Metals AMI.AX , losing 1.2%.

Among gold miners .AXGD , Andromeda Metals ADN.AX soared 8.9%, while Calidus Resources CAI.AX jumped 2.63​%.

Energy sub-index .AXEJ was down 0.7%, with Oil Search OSH.AX and Woodside Petroleum WPL.AX losing 1.6% and 0.6%, respectively. Oil prices declined on Friday on worries that fuel demand in India would be impacted by soaring COVID-19 infections and consequent lockdowns. New Zealand, the benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index .NZ50 rose as much as 0.4% to 12,776.60, hitting its highest level since Feb. 18 and rising for a fourth straight session.

The top percentage gainers on the benchmark were SKY Network Television SKT.NZ and Oceania Healthcare OCA.NZ , both rising as much as 2.4%.

In other markets, the S&P 500 E-minis futures EScv1 were up 0.32%, Nikkei futures NKc1 edged up 0.2%, while the MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS was nearly flat. MKTS/GLOB