Stock market
FILE PHOTO: Electronic boards display the days loss to the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) above the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., June 24, 2016. Reuters/Lucas Jackson

Australian shares witnessed an increase on Tuesday, helped largely by buying in financial stocks. The S&P/ASX 200 index increased 0.5 percent (or 26.5 points) to reach 5750.5 points. Meanwhile, the benchmark on Monday had seen a downslide of 0.3 percent.

The financial index enhanced by 1 percent in early trade. Westpac Banking Corp was among the highest gainers on the index. The National Australia Bank Ltd. enhanced by 1.3 percent. With this feat, it reached its highest in 18 months. AMP Ltd. also saw an increase of 3.4 percent. the Commonwealth Bank of Australia rose by 1 percent.

“Financials are doing the 10 point lifting,” Evan Lucas, market strategist at IG Markets, said. "It is the last day of the month, so you do slightly get window dressing trading going on.”

Rise in energy index, reporting the highest intra-day percentage increase since last December, also contributed to the recent gains. WorleyParsons Ltd recorded the highest intra-day percentage increase – rising to its highest since July 2015. On the other hand, oil and gas producer Santos Ltd and energy provider Origin Energy Ltd also increased by 2.4 percent.

"We will wait and see if the market can shrug off the weak sentiment from the past few days," CommSec market analyst Steven Daghlian said. "Overall, we have a few busy sessions ahead and investors will be looking out for that," he added, shedding light on US president Donald Trump's address to Congress later on Tuesday and Australian balance of payments and government finances data on Wednesday.

New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index upped by 0.31 percent (or 22.21 points) to reach 7101.39. Among those that saw the highest increases were telecom and healthcare stocks. Spark New Zealand Ltd jumped by 1.7 percent. Fisher & Paykel Healthcare Corporation Ltd upped by 1.12 percent, reaching its highest for the week.

US stocks recorded high numbers overnight. The Dow touched a record high for the 12th consecutive session. This comes following US President Donald Trump’s announcement of making a “big” infrastructure statement. While the Dow Jones Industrial Average saw an increase of 0.08 percent, the S&P 500 rose 0.10 percent. As of 10:36 a.m., the Australian dollar was trading at 76.75 US cents, a marginal slide from 76.92 US cents on Monday’s close.

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