(Reuters) - Australian shares marked a ten-year peak and rallied to end their fourth session higher on Monday, helped higher by banking stocks and as positive cues from Wall Street backed buying sentiment.
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq clocked their best week in more than a year on Friday as technology stocks buoyed major indexes to records. [.N]
The nation's benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index <.AXJO> ended the session 0.1 percent higher. The index rose 0.7 percent on Friday.
Financials accounted for the majority of gains on the index, with Commonwealth Bank of Australia <CBA.AX> and Australia and New Zealand Banking Group <ANZ.AX>, the top drivers of the index, adding 0.6 percent and 0.3 percent, respectively.
Real estate and healthcare stocks were also in demand, with DEXUS Property Group <DXS.AX> gaining the most in nearly a month and healthcare giant CSL Ltd <CSL.AX> climbing 0.4 percent.
Insurer Suncorp Group <SUN.AX> dampened the cheer, slacking 1.3 percent to its lowest in over two months after it booked a A$160 million to A$170 million ($125.73 million to $133.59 million) hit to its half-year earnings due to a hailstorm that struck Melbourne in December.
Miners also traded in the red after global commodity prices eased off a recent rally. Australia flagged a possible 20 percent slide in iron ore prices this year from 2017, depressing mining stocks further. [MET/L]
Global miner BHP Billiton <BHP.AX> and iron ore explorer Fortescue Metals Group <FMG.AX> lost 0.1 percent and 2.2 percent each. Gold miner Newcrest Mining shed 0.7 percent.
Across the Tasman Sea, New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index <.NZ50>, which inched higher to a record earlier in the day, retreated to close 0.4 percent lower.
The index snapped a three-session gain streak, pulled down by healthcare and material stocks.
Fisher & Paykel Healthcare Corporation Ltd <FPH.NZ> and construction company Fletcher Building Ltd <FBU.NZ> were the biggest drags on the index, losing 1.2 percent and 1.5 percent each.
(Devika Syamnath in Bengaluru; Editing by Sam Holmes)
