Australian shares climb to record high ahead of Fed verdict
Sept 18 (Reuters) -Australian shares climbed to a record high on Wednesday, buoyed by financials and commodity stocks ahead of a policy meeting where the U.S. Federal Reserve is expected to cut its interest rates for the first time in more than four years.
The S&P/ASX 200 index .AXJO was up 0.1% at 8,151.4 points, as of 1245 GMT, surpassing the previous all-time high of 8150.5 points climbed on Tuesday.
The U.S. retail sales rose unexpectedly in August, theoretically weakening the case for a more aggressive cut by the Fed at the conclusion of its two-day meeting later in the day.
Amid recent volatility in markets' expectations of the size in rate reduction, investors are pricing in a 66% chance the U.S. central bank will cut borrowing costs by 50 basis points, according to the CME's FedWatch Tool.
Domestic investors await the jobs data for August, due on Thursday, which could influence the Reserve Bank of Australia's monetary policy stance.
Miners .AXMM rose as much as 0.8% with heavyweights BHP BHP.AX, Rio Tinto RIO.AX and Fortescue FMG.AX up between 0.5% and 1.3%.
Financials .AXFJ inched 0.4% higher with the "Big Four" banks advancing between 0.3% and 0.9%.
Energy .AXEJ and gold stocks .AXGD were marginally up by 0.2% and 0.1%, respectively.
Brent crude LCOc1 futures edged higher to $73.75 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude CLc1 lost 0.04% to $71.16 per barrel.
Bullion XAU= rose 0.09% to $2,572.20.
Bucking the upbeat mood, technology .AXIJ and healthcare stocks .AXHJ shed as much as 0.8% each.
The U.S. Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fell 15.90 points, or 0.04%, at 41,606.18 points on Tuesday. The S&P 500 .SPX, .SPX gained 1.49 points, or 0.03%, while Nasdaq .IXIC gained 35.93 points, or 0.20%.
Across the Tasman Sea, New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index .NZ50 was down 0.2% at 12,643.56 points.
Reporting by Sherin Sunny in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips
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