Australia benchmark adds 0.9% over the week Gains in...

	  Australia benchmark adds 0.9% over the week 

	  Gains in healthcare, energy offset by miners 

	  NZ shares lose 1.5% over the week 

(Updates to close)

Australian shares closed higher on Friday on broad-based gains, capped by investors worrying over slim chances of interest rates easing soon after the country's central bank delivered hawkish comments on inflation earlier in the week.

The S&P/ASX 200 index (xjo) rose 0.3% to 7,796 points at the close of trade, logging weekly gains of 0.9%.

The Reserve Bank of Australia's warning, in which it said it remained vigilant over upside risks to inflation, has pushed back rate cut expectations to later in the year, with some even expecting the next move could be a rate hike.

"We think a hike remains unlikely given the ongoing easing in the labour market and the slow pace of activity growth. Still, we can't rule out a post-second-quarter inflation rate hike entirely," analysts at ANZ wrote.

On the bourse, gains in the healthcare .AXHJ and energy .AXEJ stocks were partially offset by weakness in miners .AXMM as iron ore prices remained subdued on demand concerns in top consumer China.

The healthcare index ended 1% higher and was the top boost to the benchmark, with biotech giant CSL Ltd (CSL) advancing 0.8%, while energy stocks were up 1.1%.

Capping the gains were the miners .AXMM , weighed largely by iron ore miner Fortescue (FMG) . The stock which fell more than 1% and ended the week nearly 7% lower.

Mathan Somasundaram, CEO of Deep Data Analytics said the top three stocks in Australia - BHP Group (BHP) , Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) , and CSL Ltd (CSL) - accounted for roughly 20% of the index, and added that losses in BHP were being covered up by the other two stocks.

"Passive money is controlling the market and the underperformance in BHP is being covered up by pushing CBA and CSL higher."

BHP has lost around 15% so far this year - putting it on track for its worst year since 2015, if the trend holds - while CBA and CSL have advanced 14% and 2.2%, respectively.

In New Zealand, the benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index (nz50) closed 0.8% lower at 11,682.39 points, ending the week 1.5% in the red.