Australian shares rise on slowing coronavirus spread; NZ retreats

* Australia’s benchmark stock index up 3%

* Financials, miners lead gains; CBA up 2%

* New Zealand benchmark index down over 1%

* Auckland Int’l Airport to raise up to $704 mln

By Sameer Manekar

April 6 (Reuters) – Australian shares rose more than 3% on Monday, driven by financials and miners, as hopes of a levelling-off of the coronavirus crisis in the United States and a slowing rate of daily new cases in Australia fuelled positive sentiment.

The SP/ASX 200 index was up 3.2% at 5,227.5 by 0035 GMT after Friday’s 1.7% drop.

U.S. stock futures climbed more than 1.5% in early Asian trading after U.S. President Donald Trump expressed hope the country was seeing a “levelling off” of the virus crisis.

In Australia, confirmed cases rose to 5,687 by Sunday afternoon, suggesting that the daily rate of infections was below 5%, about a fifth of what the country experienced in mid-March. The death toll rose to 34.

A slowdown in new cases of the virus and a slew of companies announcing capital raising to boost their balance sheet could be attributed to Monday’s positive sentiment, said Henry Jennings, a senior analyst and portfolio manager at Marcustoday Financial Newsletter.

Flight Centre Travel Group announced a A$700 million ($419.86 million) equity capital raising, including A$282 million placement with institutional investors at A$7.20 per share.

Among gainers, heavyweight financials advanced 3.4%, with all the Big Four banks rising between 1.5% and 2%.

Top lender Commonwealth Bank of Australia and peer Westpac Banking Corp gained nearly 2% each.

Mining stocks added 3%, with BHP Group and Rio Tinto gaining 1.6% and 1.3%, respectively.

Energy stocks were up 4%, marking their sixth consecutive session of gains. Woodside Petroleum and Santos Ltd advanced 4.7% and 6.3%, respectively.

Meanwhile, Caltex Australia said it would extend the planned shutdown of Lytton oil refinery to ward off an expected hit to refining due to the pressure on demand amid the coronavirus pandemic. Shares of the fuel retailer were up nearly 5%.

Gold stocks gained 3.5%, with heavyweights Newcrest Mining and Northern Star Resources adding 3.4% and 5.1%, respectively.

In New Zealand, the benchmark SP/NZX 50 index slipped as much as 1.3% to 9,807.98 after a near 0.7% gain on Friday.

Fisher Paykel Healthcare Corp and electricity generator Meridian Energy were among the top losers, slipping as much as 3% each.

Auckland International Airport said it would raise up to NZ$1.2 billion ($704.5 million) to shore up its balance sheet. (Reporting by Sameer Manekar in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)