April 10 (Reuters) - New Zealand's shares held their gains on Wednesday after the central bank kept the key cash rate unchanged, as expected, while Australian shares were boosted by mining and healthcare stocks.
New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index was 0.32% higher at 11,954.7100 of 0239 GMT, on pace to snap a six-session losing run but unchanged from just before the central left its cash rate at a 15-year high for the sixth consecutive meeting.
"Ongoing restrictive monetary policy settings are necessary to reduce inflation, while avoiding unnecessary instability in output, employment, interest rates and the exchange rate," minutes from the committee meeting said, reiterating that previous rate hikes had helped slow the economy.
Meanwhile, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index was up 0.5% at 7,864.50, extending gains to a third session.
Globally, the focus globally is on U.S. inflation data, due later in the day, for clues about the timing and depth of the Federal Reserve's rate cuts. The data, which follows last week's strong jobs data, is expected to inflation rose last month.
In Sydney, mining stocks climbed as much as 1.2% to their highest since Feb. 5. Rio Tinto, BHP Group and Fortescue gained between 1% and 2%.
Healthcare stocks rose 1.4% and were on track for their best day since Jan. 23, with sector heavyweight CSL advancing as much as 1.6%.
Energy stocks rose 0.4%. Woodside Energy inched 0.03% higher, while Santos fell 0.9%.
Gold stocks declined 0.6%, while rate-sensitive financials slipped 0.2%. (Reporting by Sherin Sunny and Rajasik Mukherjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu and Savio D'Souza)
