News: XIJ Australian shares close at record highs on miners boost

• Iron ore miners lead gains
• Afterpay ends two-day run of gains

(Updates to close)

Australian stocks closed at a record high on Wednesday, boosted by miners after iron ore prices rose, while shares of Afterpay paused after a two-day run of stellar gains.

The S&P/ASX 200 index (xjo) ended up 0.4% at 7,503.2, with miners .AXMM adding 1.3% as supply concerns lifted iron ore prices.

Rio Tinto (RIO) , BHP Group (BHP) and Fortescue Metals Group (FMG) climbed between 1.6% and 2.7%.

"Miners and energy stocks are moving on reflation, with BHP alone pushing the market up many points," Mathan Somasundaram, CEO at Deep Data Analytics, said, adding that the market was ignoring lockdowns and assuming more handouts by the government.

Afterpay (APT) fell 0.9%, snapping a two-day strong rally that saw it add about 33% after it backed a $29 billion buyout by Jack Dorsey's payments company Square SQ.N .

Its smaller buy now, pay later peers also ended mixed, with Zip Co Ltd (Z1P) down 0.6% and Sezzle (SZL) up 1.4%. Some analysts expect the Afterpay deal to lead to consolidation in the sector.

Australia's so-called "Big Four" banks rose between 0.3% and 1.03%.

Energy stocks .AXEJ added 0.9%, led by top independent gas producer Woodside Petroleum Ltd (WPL) . The company flagged a 5% increase in expected costs for its Scarborough.

In New Zealand, the benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index (nz50) rose 0.8% to 12,797.29, with top performer a2 Milk Co (ATM) up 1.9%.

The country posted a strong jobs data for the second quarter, raising bets that monetary policy may be tightened this month.

Air New Zealand (AIR) also said its fiscal 2022 loss would be bigger than earlier expected due to suspension of a quarantine-free travel arrangement with Australia.