Australia shares post longest winning run since 2003

MELBOURNE, Jan 30 (Reuters) - Australian shares rose 0.2
percent to a fresh 21-month high on Wednesday as top miners
climbed on firmer copper prices and insurers rebounded, while
the wider market gained from a revival in risk appetite.
It was the 10th straight day of gains -- the longest winning
run since October 2003 -- and pushed the market to a 5.3 percent
rise so far for January.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index rose 7.7 points to
4,896.7, according to the latest data, its best since April
2011.
"We could be seeing the 5,000-level reached on the index
before a pullback happens," said Tim Waterer, senior trader at
CMC Markets.
"The bar is set almost embarrassingly low for the vast
majority of key macro indicators for the U.S., and anything
mildly positive is serving to feed more buying enthusiasm. The
prevailing market psyche is easily pleased," he said.
Investors shrugged off a surprise decision by Australian
Prime Minister Julia Gillard to give voters eight months notice
of a national election, set for Sept. 14, in a move aimed at
ending uncertainty around her struggling minority government.
New Zealand's benchmark NZX 50 index added 1.1
percent to 4,247.546, the highest since October 2007. The top 10
stocks rose 1.6 percent on improved risk appetite, amid
signs the local economy is picking up.
In Australia, global miner BHP Billiton gained 1.2
percent while Rio Tinto advanced 1.5 percent, helped by
an increased economic growth forecast for 2013 from China's top
think tank..
Insurers recovered after being sold down as fires and floods
ravage the country. QBE Insurance Group rebounded 4.2
percent while Insurance Australia Group rose 1.2
percent.
IAG said it had so far received around 5,600 claims arising
from severe weather due to ex-tropical cyclone Oswald but
catastrophe reinsurance limited its exposure to a first event to
A$150 million.
Analysts upgraded earnings forecasts for IAG after they
lowered natural perils costs for the the first-half, due to be
reported on Feb. 21.
Supermarkets-to-hardware retailer Wesfarmers
dropped 1.8 percent to A$38.13 after reporting same-store
December quarter sales at its Coles supermarket chain rose 3.9
percent from a year earlier, a touch softer than analyst
forecasts.
Wesfarmers cut its full-year coal sales forecast, citing
flooding in Australia that has affected production and weak
demand in Asia that is depressing sales prices.
Rival Woolworths, which reports quarterly sales on
Thursday, slipped 0.7 percent to A$31.65 after touching
five-year highs this week.
AWE Ltd rose 6 percent to A$1.24 after it said oil
and gas operations delivered net production of 1.3 million boe
for the 3 months to December, and sales revenue was A$77 million
for the quarter.

(Reporting by Miranda Maxwell and Gyles Beckford in Wellington;
Editing by Richard Pullin)