Australian shares rise

Australian shares rose on Tuesday as rising United States index futures firmed while Woodside Petroleum's $8 billion takeover approach for Oil Search boosted confidence in energy stocks overall. By 0230, the S&P/ASX 200 index was up 52.6 points or 1.1 per cent at 5,083.0, its biggest percentage gain since Aug. 27. As Australian investors monitored wild swings on Chinese stock exchanges, the index has fallen 8 percent in the past month with moves of more than 1 per cent in 9 of the past 16 sessions. Woodside was down 3 per cent. Iron ore majors BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto both gained about 2 per cent, while BHP spin-off South32 rose 4.2 per cent after the prices of some base metals advanced. New Zealand's benchmark NZX50 share index rose 44.36 points or 0.8 per cent to 5,617.09. Telecommunications retailer Spark rose 2.3 per cent and network operator Chorus rose 1.6 per cent. Ryman Healthcare rose 2.7 per cent, according to Reuters.

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