News: ALU Australian shares inch higher as gold stocks shine; NZ rises

June 8 (Reuters) - Australian shares rose in early trade on Tuesday, helped by gold miners, although the gains were capped by weakness in other mining stocks and a subdued finish on Wall Street overnight.

The S&P/ASX 200 index (xjo) climbed 0.3% to 7,302.3, after having closed slightly lower on Monday.

Gold miners .AXGD dominated gains on the Australian benchmark, rising as much as 1%. Sector heavyweight Newcrest Mining (NCM) advanced as much as 1.2%, while Northern Star Resources (NST) rose nearly 1%.

Gold hovered near the key level of $1,900 an ounce on Tuesday, as the dollar slid and bond yields weakened, with investors awaiting U.S. inflation data later this week.

Denting sentiment, however, the S&P 500 .SPX ended a languid session slightly in the red, with investors standing by on news of a global minimum corporate tax rate, lingering inflation fears, and a lack of market-moving economic news.

Among individual stocks and sectors in Australia, tech stocks .AXIJ tracked the Nasdaq .IXIC higher, gaining up to 0.6% to hit their highest levels in a month.

Buy-now-pay-later juggernaut Afterpay (APT) rose nearly 1.6%, while intelligence firm Nearmap (NEA) added as much as 3.1%.

In the financial sub-index .AXFJ , top lender Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) was down 0.2%. The other big banks rose between 0.6% and 0.9%.

Miners .AXMM fell up to 0.6% as softer iron ore prices weighed.

The big miners Rio Tinto (RIO) , BHP Group (BHP) and Fortescue Metals (FMG) were all down more than 1%.

Among individual stocks, software maker Altium's (ALU) shares dipped 4.7% after surging as much as 40.6% on Monday. The stock was among biggest percentage losers on the benchmark.

New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index (nz50) traded 0.3% higher.