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* Market boosted by bigger-than-expected trade surplus
* Financials lead gains(Updates to close)
March 8 (Reuters) - Australian shares rose on Thursday,buoyed by positive sentiment after January's trade surplushandsomely topped expectations.
The S&P/ASX 200 index rose 0.69 percent, or 40.9points, to 5,942.9 by the end of trade. The benchmark dropped 1percent in the previous session.
Financial stocks spearheaded gains, ending 0.78percent higher, with the 'Big Four' banks rising from 0.5percent to 1.4 percent.
Commonwealth Bank of
Biotherapeutics developer CSL ended 1.3 percenthigher and online job portal Seek Ltd climbed about 3percent.
Materials stocks were the only losers on S&P/ASX 200, with the metals and mining index falling by 0.6percent after
Iron ore prices on the Dalian Commodity Exchangefell as far as
Mining heavyweight BHP Billiton was the biggestdrag on the benchmark, falling for a second consecutive sessionand ending 2.04 percent lower.
South32 Ltd followed, ending 1.57 percent lower.
Across the Tasman Sea,
Consumer staples led the gains with a2 Milk Company Ltdending nearly 5 percent higher.
Telecommunications operator Spark New Zealand Ltdended 1.62 percent higher.
(Reporting by Syed Saif Hussain Naqvi in BengaluruEditing by Eric Meijer)
