Australian shares climb as investors cheer Wall Street gains

By Ian Chua and Naomi Tajitsu

SYDNEY/WELLINGTON, Jan 9 (Reuters) - Australian shares rose for a second day on Friday as investors cheered solid gains on Wall Street and anticipated more upbeat news on the U.S. economy due later in the day.

The S&P/ASX 200 index climbed 62.65 points, or 1.2 percent, to 5,444.10 by 0156 GMT, extending Thursday's 0.5 percent gain.

The rally helped the market recover completely from a selloff earlier in the week when big falls in oil prices spooked investors. The benchmark index was now 0.2 percent higher for the week, after being down as much as 2.2 percent.

Heavyweight mining and financial sectors were in the black. BHP Billiton (NYSE: BBL - news) climbed 2.3 percent and Rio Tinto (Xetra: 855018 - news) put on 1.4 percent. ANZ led major banks with a 1.6 percent rally.

Evan Lucas, market strategist at IG Markets, said U.S. non-farm payrolls data "should be good".

He said that from Monday, fourth quarter U.S. earnings report will begin and investors were keen to see how the strong U.S. dollar has impacted them.

If there has been an impact, "then there may be a bit of a catch on the S&P and if that is the case, you may see Asian equities and us here in Australia feeling a bit more pressure, considering we're worried about oil prices and the fact that most major commodities are in a bear market," he said.

The greenback has rocketed to its highest in nearly a decade against a basket of major currencies, partly driven by expectations the Federal Reserve will lift interest rates this year.

Shares (Dusseldorf: DI6.DU - news) in New Zealand also fared well on Friday with the benchmark NZX50 index reaching a lifetime high of 5,608.47. The index was up 0.4 percent at 5,596.45 by 0156 GMT.

Trade Me (NZSE: TME.NZ - news) climbed 2.2 percent to a one-month high of NZ$3.70 after the online auction and jobs site said it expected 2014's double-digit growth in job advertising to continue this year.

Also leading the pack were boardroom services operator Diligent which rose 2.4 percent to match a 15-month high of NZ$5.50 hit earlier in the week, and construction materials manufacturer Fletcher Building (NZSE: FBU.NZ - news) , which climbed 2.0 percent to NZ$8.28.

A2 extended gains, rising 1.8 percent to NZ$0.57 as the specialised milk processor continued to draw support from a rise in global dairy prices at an auction this week, following a deep slide in 2014. (Editing by Richard Borsuk)