Australian shares rise on mining and gold boost; Insignia jumps on takeover deal

Australian shares rose on Tuesday, helped by mining and gold stocks, as investors awaited minutes of the central bank’s latest policy meeting for rate cues, while Insignia Financial jumped after agreeing to an A$3.3 billion takeover bid.

The S&P/ASX 200 index climbed 0.3% to 8,692.5 by 0030 GMT, after closing 1% lower on Monday.

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) will release later in the day minutes of its July policy meeting where it may offer some insights into a rare split among policymakers before deciding to hold interest rates steady at 3.85%.

A surprisingly soft jobs report last week has seen markets move to price a 90% chance that the central bank will cut rates next month.

On the resources-heavy bourse, miners led the charge with a 2.4% rise, after iron ore futures closed higher overnight.

Top miners BHP and Rio Tinto climbed 2.5% and 2.2%, respectively, while Fortescue advanced 2.1%.

Gold stocks gained 3.1%, after bullion prices hit a five-week high overnight.

Gold miner Northern Star Resources rose 2.7%, while Genesis Minerals advanced 5.7%.

Limiting the benchmark index’s gain, financials slipped 0.6%, while energy stocks declined 0.7%, tracking weakness in oil prices.

Among individual stocks, Insignia Financial jumped 16% after the wealth manager agreed to an A$3.3 billion ($2.15 billion) takeover by investment manager CC Capital Partners.

Champion Iron advanced 4.6% after the company said Nippon Steel and Sojitz Corp would invest an initial C$245 million ($179.08 million) in its Kami iron ore project in Canada for an aggregate 49% interest.

New Zealand’s benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index fell 0.7% to 12,874.11.