Miners drive Australian shares to one-week high

Oct 8 (Reuters) – Australian shares were set on Friday for their first weekly gain in five as markets rose further to hit a one-week high, led by heavyweight miners on the back of strong commodity prices.

The benchmark ASX 200 index was up 0.5% at 7,294.8 by 2348 GMT, after rising as much as 0.9% earlier in the session. For the week, it has gained more than 1%.

Miners jumped 1.7% to hit a 1-1/2-week high, after copper prices rose on Thursday due to buying ahead of China’s reopening after a week-long holiday and on easing debt ceiling concerns in the United States.

Chalice Mining Ltd and IGO Ltd were the top gainers, rising 3.6% and 3.2% respectively, while global miners BHP Group advanced 3.6% and Rio Tinto climbed 2.4%.

Meanwhile, Wall Street closed sharply higher on Thursday after the Senate took a step toward passing a $480 billion increase in Treasury Department borrowing authority.

Australian technology stocks climbed 1.4% and were on track for a third consecutive session of rise, tracking overnight gains in big tech stocks on Wall Street. Buy-now-pay-later giant Afterpay Ltd added 2.6%, while Megaport Ltd gained 2.07%.

Banks climbed 0.6%, led by Janus Henderson Group PLC , up 3.54%, and AUB Group Ltd, up 3.26%.

Energy stocks rose as much as 1.1% after oil futures rebounded on Thursday. Santos Ltd was up 1.2%, while Ampol Ltd gained 0.9%. Heavyweights Beach Energy and Santos rose 1.2% and 0.8%, respectively.

Woolworths Group, Australia’s biggest grocery chain, provisionally settled a class action lawsuit filed against it by a Canberra law firm in 2019 for underpaying supermarket workers.

In New Zealand, the benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index gained 0.2% to 13,151.2. Elsewhere, S&P 500 E-minis futures were up 0.14%. (Reporting by Aditya Munjuluru; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)