Australian shares rise on mining and gold boost; Insignia jumps on takeover deal
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.
($1 = 1.5335 Australian dollars) ($1 = 1.3681 Canadian dollars) (Reporting by Roshan Thomas in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)
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