Reuters: Hot Stocks: Australian shares rise 0.7 pct on strong banks, Cyprus draft deal helps

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Australian shares rise 0.7 pct on strong banks, Cyprus draft deal helps Mar 25th 2013, 01:00 Sun Mar 24, 2013 9:00pm EDT (Adds details, comments, stocks on the move) SYDNEY, March 25 (Reuters) - Australian shares rose 0.7 percent in late morning trade on Monday, led by a strong run in the financial sector, as investors hunted for bargains from last week's fall and took comfort in a draft deal between Cyprus and international lenders. Greg Fraser, head of research at Kimber Capital, noted hesitancy in the market at the beginning of trade with participants waiting for some resolution for Cyprus. The market cheered the news from Europe later in the morning, after a European Union spokesman said Cyprus, the EU and the International Monetary Fund had agreed a new plan to address the island's bank crisis and finance a rescue. ID:nL5N0CG13A] Strong financials led the local market. Westpac Banking Corp gained 1.3 percent, while Australia's biggest lender Commonwealth Bank of Australia rose 1.0 percent. "There is still a large part of the market that is happy to just park money in high-yielding companies and sectors like the banks, where the perception of safety in yield provides quite good cover in terms of avoiding any real downside in the market," Fraser said. The S&P/ASX 200 index gained 34.1 points to 5,001.4 by 0041 GMT. The benchmark inched up 0.2 percent on Friday, but fell 3 percent for the week. Big miners had a better run as iron ore prices recovered from three-month lows, with both BHP Billiton Ltd and Rio Tinto Ltd rising 0.5 percent. Fortescue Metals Group ltd, the world's fourth biggest iron ore miner, jumped 2.4 percent. New Zealand's benchmark NZX 50 index shed 1.5 points to 4,341.4. STOCKS ON THE MOVE * Australian construction firm Leighton Holdings Ltd jumped 4.9 percent to A$21.19, after it appointed board member Bob Humphris as its new chairman to replace Stephen Johns, who quit in a row with majority shareholder Hochtief . (0038 GMT) * Australia mall operator Westfield Group gained 2.7 percent to A$11.05, after it said on Monday it had reached an agreement with O'Connor Capital Partners on a joint venture investment in six Westfield regional malls in the U.S. state of Florida. (0038 GMT) * Yancoal Australia rose 2.4 percent to A$0.85, after it said it expected its production and sales to increase in 2013. (0039 GMT) * DuluxGroup Ltd edged 0.7 percent lower to A$4.49, after it said it was well-advanced in identifying cost synergies at its Alesco acquisition and expected net profit after tax for the 2013 full year to be ahead of last year on a like-for-like basis. (0040GMT) (Reporting by Maggie Lu Yueyang; Editing by Eric Meijer) Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

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