Australia Stocks Build on Gains, End Higher for the Week

MELBOURNE, Australia--Energy shares led broad gains in Australian stocks, driven by overnight strength in oil prices, while banks tracked financial shares on Wall Street higher.

The S&P/ASX 200 extended Thursday's rally, rising for the fourth time in the past five days to finish 28.3 points, or 0.5%, higher at 5765.1. The index gained 1.1% for the week.

Among oil-and-gas producers, Woodside Petroleum picked up 1.8%, Oil Search added 2% and Santos gained 2.8%.

Australia & New Zealand Banking climbed 1%, National Australia Bank was 0.9% stronger, Commonwealth Bank of Australia rose 0.7% and Westpac Banking was up 0.3%.

Diversified mining companies BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto gained 0.5% and 0.2%, respectively, though other firms in the materials sector were lower after Chinese iron-ore futures pulled back from recent gains and gold prices continued to slide in Asian trading.

Write to Robb M. Stewart at robb.stewart@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 14, 2017 03:29 ET (07:29 GMT)