Australian shares rose on Wednesday, snapping two sessions of...

Australian shares rose on Wednesday, snapping two sessions of losses, as basic materials and energy stocks gained on the back of a weakening U.S. dollar.

The greenback sagged against its major peers after U.S. President Donald Trump and his top economics adviser took aim at the currency policies of key U.S. trade partners, further raising concern that Washington was poised to actively weaken the dollar. [FRX/]

The S&P/ASX 200 index (xjo) gained 0.36 percent, or 19.989 points to 5,640.9 at 0128 GMT.

The metals and gold indexes .AXMM .AXGD were both up around 1 percent.

"We do have support from mining stocks," said Ric Spooner, chief market analyst, CMC Markets. "The second thing supporting the mining sector is further upgrades for Fortescue Metals."

Brokerages Argonaut, Jefferies and Citi raised Fortescue's target price after the company said it was still on track for another bumper year.

Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (FMG) rose as much as 4.7 percent, while miner BHP Billiton PLC (BHP) gained 1.4 percent.

Newcrest Mining Ltd (NCM) climbed as much as 3.1 percent, its highest in a month, while Evolution Mining Ltd (EVN) rose nearly 2 percent.

Energy stocks also saw gains on the back of rising oil prices which, besides the dollar movement, were further aided by news of the world's top producers cutting production more than expected this month. [O/R]

Woodside Petroleum Ltd (WPL) rose 1.9 percent, while Oil Search Ltd (OSH) climbed 1.5 percent.

The gains in the mining sector helped offset market pressure from financial stocks.

Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd (ANZ) was down 0.1 percent, falling for the third straight session to its lowest level in nearly eight weeks. National Australia Bank Ltd (NAB) fell 0.2 percent.

There is "continued profit-taking in the banks, the big banks especially, and so that downward sentiment in profit-taking that we have seen over recent days has carried forward to today," Spooner said.

New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index (nz50) was down 0.2 percent, or 13.43 points, at 7,037.32 in its third straight session of declines.

Financials and energy stocks led the decline as Z Energy Ltd (ZEL) lost 1.5 percent in its third straight session of losses.

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