Australian shares gain as investors pick up battered stocks; banks lead

Mar 5, 2026, 13:24 GMT+7
Key points:

• Banks post best day in 2 weeks
• Miners fall 0.5%, dragged by BHP's ex-dividend drop
• NZ50 gains 0.6% to recover from Wednesday's losses

By Kumar Tanishk
Reuters - Australian shares eked out modest gains on Thursday as investors picked up beaten-down bank, energy, and tech stocks, following a two-day rout triggered by an escalating war in the Middle East.
The S&P/ASX 200climbed 0.4% to 8,940.30 points, after sliding 3.2% over the previous two sessions.
Global equities rallied following a significant selloff in the prior sessions, tracking gains from U.S. equities overnight.
In Australia, financialsled the advance on Thursday, rising 0.8% for its strongest session since February 19. Three among the "Big Four" banks rose between 0.4% and 0.6%.
Kai Chen, a director at investment advisory firm MPC Markets, attributed it to dip-buying.
Though Australian shares tumbled earlier in the week, the losses were not as pronounced due to a larger index composition towards resources and energy stocks, said Chen.
The ASX's "energy and materials tilt meant the Middle East disruption was actually a partial positive for a chunk of the index, cushioning the downside in a way that Tokyo and Seoul couldn't replicate," Chen said.
Energy firmsclimbed 0.8% on the back of higher oil prices. Oil major Woodside'sfell 1% on ex-dividend trade, while smaller rival Santosadded 1%.
Techand healthcarestocks gained 4.6% and 1.9%, respectively.
Capping some gains, the broader mining sub-indexslipped 0.5%, largely dragged by BHP's1% decline as it traded ex-dividend.
However, rivals Rio Tintoand Fortescuegained 1.2% and 2.1%, respectively, supported by a jump in iron ore prices after top consumer China unveiled promising economic measures.
Gold stocksfell 1.5% to log their third straight session of losses.
New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 indexnearly recouped Wednesday's losses, rising 0.6% to 13,617.89.

Sumber : Reuters