July 14 (Reuters) - Australian shares rose on Thursday, lifted by mining and gold companies after a sharp rebound in commodity prices, although worries over hot U.S. inflation data and an impending rate hike capped gains.
The S&P/ASX 200 index rose as much as 0.3% to 6640.3 by 0055 GMT. The benchmark rose 0.2% on Wednesday.
The main index has lost more than 11% this year on fears that speedy monetary policy tightening around the world to counter surging inflation would trigger a recession.
The U.S. Federal Reserve is seen ramping up its battle with 40-year high inflation with a supersized 100 basis points rate hike this month after a grim inflation report showed price pressures accelerating.
Leading gains on Wednesday, export-centric miners advanced as much as 1.3%, snapping from a three-day losing streak, as iron ore prices strengthened on the back of an optimistic China export reading for June.
Mining trio Rio Tinto, BHP Group and Fortescue Metals added between 1% and 2%.
The gold sub-index gained as much as 1.5% and was set for its best day in one week on strength in bullion.
Sector leaders Northern Star Resources and Newcrest Mining jumped as much as 2.6% and 1.4%, respectively.
Energy stocks climbed as much as 1.1%, with sector majors Woodside Energy and Santos adding 0.3% and 0.9%, respectively.
Bucking the trend, financials were the top laggard on the benchmark, giving up as much as 0.9%.
Commonwealth Bank of Australia, National Australia Bank, Westpac Banking Corp and Australia and New Zealand Banking Group lost between 0.5% and 1.5%.
Lithium developer Lake Resources NL fell 16.3% even as the company refuted a short seller report criticizing partner Lilac Solutions's extraction technology.
New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index climbed as much as 0.5% to 11163.5 a day after the country's central bank hiked its cash rate for the sixth consecutive time.
(Reporting by Roushni Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Amy Caren Daniel)
