ASX 200 snaps 3-day losing streak Woodside falls on project's...

	  ASX 200 snaps 3-day losing streak 

	  Woodside falls on project's profitability worries 

	  NZ50 ends at over 2-year high 

(Updates to close)

Australian shares regained their footing on Tuesday after losing for three consecutive sessions, helped by a broad-based rally across most sectors including banks and technology, while Woodside Energy slumped nearly 4% on concerns around its latest acquisition.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index (xjo) ended 0.5% higher at 7,971.1 points, roughly 110 points below its all-time high of 8,083.70 points scaled last week.

Financial stocks rebounded after three days of sharp losses as investors assessed the increasing likelihood of a rate hike by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA).

A mixed jobs data report last week and still above-target inflation have raised the chances of a RBA rate hike in early August. Markets now expect a near 20% chance of a hike from 12% early last week.

Investors now await Australia's quarterly inflation print, due on July 31, for cues on the central bank's monetary policy trajectory.

Chris Weston, head of research at brokerage Pepperstone, said a big inflation number will mean the next meeting will be a "live" one and could either result in a rate hike or pause.

While in theory, high rates are good for banks, at the same time it means "credit demand is going to get whacked," which could cool demand sufficiently but also "raises the possibility of a policy mistake in Australia", Weston added.

The tech index .AXIJ jumped 1.6%, tracking Wall Street peers as investors rotated back to mega-cap growth stocks. Top gainers Iress (IRE) and WiseTech Global (WTC) added roughly 2%.

Woodside Energy shares (WDS) declined nearly 4% despite reporting an uptick in quarterly revenue as cost overruns at Scarborough project and concerns of profitability of its recently-acquired Driftwood LNG project weighed on sentiment.

This pulled down the energy index .AXEJ , which lost 2%. Elsewhere, the banking index .AXFJ added 0.8%, with all the "Big Four" banks gaining 0.8%-1.2%.

In New Zealand, consumer and technology firms lifted the benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index (nz50) 0.9% to 12,425.58 points, its highest level since February 2022. (([email protected]; Twitter: https://twitter.com/sameer_manekar))