ASX 200 edges higher at close as miners, $2 bn telco sale plan boosts Australian shares

Australian shares rose to one-week highs on Wednesday, lifted by robust gains on mining stocks and a 5 per cent surge on telecoms provider Telstra which announced a $2 billion-plus decision to sell its mobile towers business.

The S&P/ASX 200 index rose 0.16 per cent to close at 7,313 points, having risen as high as 7,370 points earlier in the day. The index is up 11 per cent so far in the first half of 2021, compared with an 8 per cent fall in the same year-ago period.

Australia’s biggest telecom firm Telstra scaled a 16-1/2-month high after it announced plans to sell nearly half of its mobile tower business for A$2.8 billion ($2.11 billion).