INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Australian shares ticked higher on Thursday as investors picked up winners in the earnings season, while gains for financials and deal news
around insurer Suncorp Group helped the broader market.
The SP/ASX 200 index rose 0.5 per cent to reach 6,297.7, after putting on 0.2 per
cent on Wednesday.
Crown Resorts Ltd, Australia's biggest casino operator, said its annual profit rose 12.7 per cent, sending its shares
up 6.7 per cent to their highest close in over three years, as resurgent demand from high-stakes gamblers boosted turnover.
Suncorp Group,
Australia's second-largest general insurer, rose 4.7 per cent on its plan to sell its life insurance division for A$725 million ($539.3
million), ending over a year of speculation on the sale.
"Even though some people expected more for the asset, it's the fact that the deal
has finally been done," said Damian Rooney, director of equity sales at Argonaut.
"They have a fairly large amount of cash to return to
shareholders now."
The benchmark's top gainer on the day was fund management firm Magellan Financial Group, which jumped 14.3 per cent on
reporting an 8 per cent rise in full-year net profit.
In the other direction, Australia's biggest power producer, AGL Energy, was among
the benchmark's biggest losers after a warning that it expects almost no profit growth this year, with wholesale prices dropping and a
The stock fell 4.1 per cent.
Mining giant Rio Tinto dropped 1.6 per cent to its lowest close in four months with its shares trading
ex-dividend, while BHP, the world's biggest miner, tacked on 0.1 per cent.
BHP said on Thursday that a Brazilian federal court approved a
deal with authorities in the country to settle a lawsuit worth 20 billion reais ($5.30 billion) over a 2015 dam failure that killed 19
people.
The miner separately agreed to pay $50 million as part of a settlement for a class action complaint filed by American depositary
receipt holders over the disaster.
Across the Tasman Sea, New Zealand's benchmark SP/NZX 50 index climbed 0.7 per cent to 8,940.19 on
broad-based gains.
Index heavyweights Ryman Healthcare Ltd and Fletcher Building Ltd drove the index higher, rising 2.7 per cent and 2.4 per
cent, respectively.
Stocks of New Zealand's healthcare firms, most of which are largely export-reliant, were the benchmark's most
influential gainers, amid a weaker New Zealand dollar after the nation's central bank committed to keep interest rates at record lows
