Miners and gold stocks lead gains TPG Telecom marks best day...

	  Miners and gold stocks lead gains  

	  TPG Telecom marks best day ever on Vocus Group's offer  

	  NZ shares end lower  

(Updates to close)

Australian shares extended gains on Tuesday with the financial and commodities sectors advancing, after its central bank stood pat on its key interest rates for a second consecutive month.

The S&P/ASX 200 index (xjo) closed 0.5% higher to end at 7,450.7 points. It had risen as much as 0.8% earlier. The benchmark closed 0.1% higher on Monday.

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) left its key interest rates unchanged at 4.10%, saying past increases were working to cool demand, but also flagged that some more rate hikes might be needed to curb inflation.

Price pressures in the country had slowed to a 13-month low in May for the second quarter, which pointed towards reduced consumer spending.

Even otherwise, analysts believe that the central bank could persist with its rate hike cycle going forward as inflationary pressures remain a concern.

"Looking ahead, we still think an easing cycle won’t come into play for a while," said Abhijit Surya, Australia and New Zealand Economist at Capital Economics.

"While the RBA remains a reluctant hiker, we still believe more rate hikes are needed to quell wages and inflation pressure," analysts from Citi said.

Back in the region, resources indexes took the lead for the day, with mining stocks .AXMM logging in the most gains, jumping about 1%. Shares in sector majors BHP Group (BHP) and Fortescue Metals (FMG) advanced 0.8% and 1.3%.

The gold index .AXGD also firmed up to 1.9%, with Newcrest Mining (NCM) and Northern Star Resources (NST) trading 1.4% and 1.6% higher.

Financial equities .AXFJ rose around 0.4%, with the country's largest banks gaining between 0.1% and 0.6%.

Under corporate news, TPG Telecom (TPG) soared as much as 13.8% to mark its best day ever, after the telecom company received an offer from the Macquarie Asset Management-backed Vocus Group to buy its non-mobile fibre assets for A$6.3 billion.

New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index (nz50) finished 0.6% lower to finish the session at 11,980 points.