nov 1 reuters  australian shares climbed on monday kicking off the new month on a positive note with domestic technology stocks catching the tailwind from a bounce on wall street while westpac dropped 53 after the lender missed annual profit estimates the spasx 200 index was up 04 at 73512 as of 0007 gmt the benchmark closed 14 lower on friday westpac banking corp said it would return a57 billion 42 billion to shareholders in dividends and a buyback but profit at the no 3 lender were below consensus refinitiv forecast of a55 billion despite more than doubling to a535 billion westpac the best performing stock among the “big four” banks this year dropped 53 and marked its worst intraday session since june 11 2020 the broader financials subindex fell more than 1 major indexes on wall street gained on friday as microsoft corp closed at a record high to offset losses in amazon and apple shares australian technology stocks gained as much as 15 with software firm altium rising 34 healthcare stocks also rose benefiting from a 12 rise in sector heavyweight csl ltd meanwhile ausnet services ltd said it agreed to a binding a102 billion 766 billion takeover offer by brookfield asset management inc but added that rival bidder apa group was free to make a better counteroffer shares of the energy infrastructure firm jumped as much as 53 to notch their highest in more than a month ausnet was also among the top gainers in the benchmark index miners however were set to record their fourth straight session of losses as weaker iron ore prices pulled heavyweights rio tinto and bhp group down 02 and 09 respectively new zealand’s benchmark spnzx 50 index was down 03 at 130613 driven lower by financial and industrial stocks