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(Reuters) -Australian shares rose on Wednesday to log their strongest trading session in nearly two weeks as banks gained, while local investors digested the cautious stance of the country's central bank in the minutes of its September policy meeting.
The S&P/ASX 200 index rose 0.9% to 8,976.30 points by 0001 GMT. The benchmark is on track to record its best day since October 2, if current trends hold.
Minutes of the Reserve Bank of Australia's meeting, released on Tuesday, showed that it saw no need for an immediate cut in interest rates in September given some stickiness in services inflation and steady employment, while future easing would be data-dependent.
Markets imply around a 50-50 chance the RBA will ease at its next meeting on November 4, with much depending on consumer price data for the third quarter due at the end of this month. [0#AUDIRPR]
Meanwhile, a top Australian central banker reiterated on Wednesday that inflation appeared to have been hotter than expected in the third quarter.
Banks led the charge on the benchmark, rising 1.5%, with three of the "Big Four" banks advancing between 1.6% and 1.8%.
Shares of Westpac rose 2% following Australia's prudential regulator's removal of the additional A$500 million ($324.55 million) capital add-on on the lender after the bank completed a required multi-year risk transformation program.
Miners rose 0.4%, with Rio Tinto and BHP adding 0.5% and 0.6% respectively.
Energy stocks, however, fell 0.6% as oil prices fell after the International Energy Agency warned of a huge supply glut in 2026. [O/R]
Energy giants Woodside and Santos declined 0.9% and 0.7%, respectively, with the latter due to report its third-quarter production results on Thursday.
New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index rose 0.5% to 13,338.71 points.
($1 = 1.5406 Australian dollars)
(Reporting by Shivangi Lahiri in Bengaluru; Editing by Alan Barona)
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