Australia Stocks Rise, With Miners Up, Banks Down

Australian stocks advanced early Wednesday, following commodities and U.S. shares higher. The S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.4%, erasing the previous session's 0.1% dip, with miners rebounding but banks down ahead of the Federal Reserve policy decision Wednesday in the U.S. With gold, copper and several other key metals higher, BHP Billiton Ltd. rose 1.4%, Rio Tinto Ltd. added 1%, Oz Minerals Ltd. gained 2.7%, Newcrest Mining Ltd. improved by 1.7%, and Perseus Mining Ltd. surged 6%. Energy shares also recovered ground, with Oil Search Ltd. up 1%, and WorleyParsons Ltd. rising 2.3%. But the heavily weighted financials trended lower, with National Australia Bank Ltd. down 0.5% ahead of its quarterly results due out later in the day, while Australia & New Zealand Banking Group fell 1%, and Commonwealth Bank of Australia shed 0.3%.