By Adrian Bathgate and Sonali Paul

WELLINGTON/MELBOURNE, Nov 4 (Reuters) - Australian shares

ended up 0.2 percent on Wednesday, helped by banks after Westpac

Banking Corp said the bad debt cycle had peaked, while

gold miners led gains after gold scaled a new record high.

Westpac, the last of the big banks to report its full year

results, was the best performer among the banks, climbing 1.4

percent to A$24.79 after it narrowly beat analysts' forecasts.

Analysts said however that banks may not give the market the

same impetus in coming sessions since the sector as now seen as

fairly priced following a sharp run-up since March.

'I don't know that the banking sector has a lot of upside

left in it,' said Mark Nathan, a portfolio manager at Fortis

Investment Partners.

National Australia Bank fell 0.9 percent to A$28.15,

while Australia&New Zealand Banking Group rose 0.7

percent to A$22.73 and Commonwealth Bank of Australia

rose 0.2 percent to A$51.37.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index picked up 8.6 points

to close at 4,540.1, reversing Tuesday's small loss.

New Zealand's benchmark NZX 50 index also rose 0.2

percent to close at 3,166.7.

Among gold miners, Kingsgate Consolidated notched up

the biggest gain, rising 10.4 percent to A$8.39, followed by St

Barbara, which rose 7.8 percent to A$0.345.

Top miner BHP Billiton rose 0.5 percent to A$36.94

while Rio Tinto rose 1 percent to A$63.43.

(Editing by Jonathan Standing)

((adrian.bathgate@reuters.com; +64-4-4714233; Reuters Messaging:

adrian.bathgate.reuters.com@reuters.net))

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