Australian shares notched meagre gains on Thursday as investors held bets in the absence of major economic news, while trade frictions and fears of global recession also contained risk appetites. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index closed up 0.1%, or 6.8 points, at 6,507.4. It advanced 0.5% on Wednesday. "This is a market which is in a hiatus, really looking for a catalyst to move either up or down ... we're still very much at the mercy of tweets and data," said Chris Weston, head of research at Pepperstone.

Australian gold stocks gained 0.9% amid the subdued global backdrop that boosted appeal of safe-haven assets. Newcrest Mining Ltd and Evolution Mining Ltd added 0.9% and 0.4%, respectively. Banking stocks, which have the most weight in the benchmark, advanced 0.2%, with the "Big Four" banks gaining between 0.3% and 0.8%. Tech stocks and lithium miners led losses.

New Zealand's benchmark index retreated 0.4%, or 46.1 points, to 10,580.07. Vista Group International was the top decliner, down 29% at its worst close since January, after reporting weaker annual core earnings.

Copyright Reuters, 2019