Aug 25 (Reuters) - Australian shares climbed on Thursday as miners jumped on strong underlying commodity prices and a slew of positive earnings reports boosted sentiment, while investors awaited a U.S. central bank gathering for interest rate hike clues.
Market participants await U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's speech at the Jackson Hole Economic Policy Symposium on Friday. The speech could throw some light on the Fed's monetary policy tightening path.
The S&P/ASX 200 index rose 0.6% to 7041.8 by 0002 GMT, after ending 0.5% higher on Wednesday.
Bucking the trend, Woolworths dropped 4.6% after the retailer posted a nearly flat annual profit on supply chain snarls and team absenteeism.
Gold stocks advanced 2.8% and were the top gainers on the benchmark, with the country's largest gold miner Newcrest Mining jumping 2.7%.
Energy stocks and miners were also among the biggest gainers, surging 2.3% and 1.1%, respectively on improved commodity prices.
Shares in South 32 gained 0.8%, after the miner posted a more than fivefold jump in annual profit.
Whitehaven Coal, on the other hand, dropped 3.4%, even as the coal miner posted its highest-ever annual profit for fiscal 2022.
With the corporate reporting season in full swing, investors took cues from a number of earnings reports that lifted the broader market higher.
Leading gains on the benchmark, IDP Education jumped 11.9%, after the education services firm more than tripled its annual profit.
Qantas rose 7.1% after the airline said its financial performance improved in the second half.
Charter Hall edged 6.8% higher on nearly doubling its annual profit.
Pendal Group surged 10.7%, after the company disclosed a takeover offer from Australian asset manager Perpetual Ltd.
In New Zealand, the benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index was largely unchanged.
($1 = 1.4447 Australian dollars) (Reporting by Roushni Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich)
