Australian shares rise as banks, gold miners rally ahead of RBA decision

Australian shares edged higher on Monday, with banks and gold miners providing support, according to Business Recorder. Investors are positioning ahead of a Reserve Bank of Australia policy meeting on Tuesday, where markets have priced in a fourth rate increase. Persistent inflation pressure is seen as outweighing mixed employment data, which left expectations of more tightening largely unchanged.

The S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.2% to 8,683.5 points, reversing a 0.4% fall on Friday. Financials rose 0.4% as National Australia Bank, Westpac and ANZ Group each climbed between 0.4% and 0.6%. Gold stocks rose as much as 2.2%, with Northern Star Resources pushing above a one-month peak after rejecting a A$38.7 billion ($27.16 billion) buyout proposal from Gold Fields of South Africa, a move that lifted the shares more than 10%.

Ingenia Communities climbed 7.1% after confirming it is weighing a A$2.14 billion offer from Warburg Pincus, a US-based private equity group, having earlier turned down two approaches. Energy shares slipped 0.7%, consumer staples shed about 1%, while the wider mining group added 0.2%. Across the Tasman, the S&P/NZX 50 added 0.4%, reaching 13,861.58 points.