April 14 (Reuters) - Australian shares gained on Thursday, tracking an overnight Wall Street rally, as firm commodity prices boosted mining and energy stocks higher.
The S&P/ASX 200 index advanced 0.5% to 7518 by 0125 GMT. The benchmark has gained 0.5% so far this week. Markets in Australia and New Zealand are closed on Friday for 'Good Friday'.
Firmer crude prices aided domestic energy stocks, pushing them up as much as 1.5% to mark their second week of gains.
Sector heavyweights Woodside Petroleum and Santos advanced 1% and 1.7%, respectively.
Miners jumped 1.1% to hit a more than one-week high. The sub-index has gained 1.5% this week.
Mining trio Rio Tinto, Fortescue Metals and BHP Group advanced between 0.6% and 1.2%.
Leading gains on ASX 200, shares of lithium miner Allkem jumped as much as 7.6% to hit a record high on plans to increase lithium production three-fold by 2026.
Bullion prices hit one-month peak as high inflation boosted appeal for safe-haven assets, lifting local gold miners as much as 2.2% — their highest since June 2021.
Resolute Mining gained 1.3%, followed by Newcrest Mining, up as much as 1.4%.
Uniti hit a record peak after the telecoms firm agreed to a A$3.62 billion ($2.70 billion) takeover offer from a consortium comprising Canada's Brookfield Asset Management TO> and fund manager Morrison & Co.
Financials gained 0.1%, with Commonwealth Bank of Australia and National Australian Bank adding 0.4% and 0.1%, respectively.
Shares of Bank of Queensland dropped 4.3% after it reported a drop in its half-yearly margins.
New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index rose 0.2% to 11897.18.
The country's central bank delivered a fourth consecutive rate hike on Wednesday by declaring a 50 basis point hike in the Official Cash Rate to 1.50%.
($1 = 1.3405 Australian dollars) (Reporting by Roushni Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich)
