Australian shares rebound on boost from banks, miners

Feb 9 (Reuters) - Australian shares rebounded on Monday, led by banks and miners, after their steepest one-day drop in the previous session, with investors bracing for a week of corporate earnings.

The S&P/ASX 200 index rose 1.5% to 8.840.50 by 2312 GMT, set for its strongest session since late April 2025.

The benchmark ended 2% lower on Friday, marking its weakest session since U.S. President Donald Trump's liberation day tariffs in April last year.

Financials rose as much as 1.2%, with the "Big Four" banks gaining between 0.4% and 1.2%.

Three of the "Big Four" banks are scheduled to report their earnings this week, while National Australia Bank is slated to report next week.

The resources sub-index advanced as much as 2.9% as copper prices moved back above the $13,000 per metric ton mark on Friday.

Top miners BHP Group, Rio Tinto and Fortescue gained between 0.4% and 3.9%.

Gold miners snapped their two-day losing streak and advanced as much as 4.3% after bullion prices rebounded on Friday on a softer dollar and lingering concerns over U.S.-Iran talks in Oman.

Resolute Mining and Predictive Discovery were up 8.7% and 8.5%, respectively, and were top gainers on the sub-index.

Healthcare, technology and real-estate stocks clocked gains between 0.5% and 4.2%.

Meanwhile, investment manager Challenger fell as much as 7.5% and emerged as the top laggard on the benchmark after its A$1.16 billion takeover bid for non-bank lender Pepper Money.

However, shares of Pepper Money rose as much as 33.5% to their highest level since early December.

Separately, investors are watching for key corporate earnings scheduled for this week, including biotech giant CSL and miner South32 .

Across the Tasman Sea, New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index fell 0.27% to 13,407.84, losing for a second consecutive session.

(Reporting by Sherin Sunny in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich)