(Updates to close)

By Rishav Chatterjee

Sept 5 (Reuters) - Australian shares closed higher on

Thursday as gains in banking and real estate stocks outweighed

losses in energy stocks led by oil and gas giant Woodside

Energy ( WDS ).

The S&P/ASX 200 index rose 0.3% to 7,973.8 after two

days of falls, as investors globally awaited U.S. payrolls data

that could provide more clues on the size of an expected rate

cut this month.

"Investors are by and large playing it safe ahead of some

key event risks still to come this week with US jobs numbers,"

said Tim Waterer, market analyst at KCM Trade.

Meanwhile, Reserve Bank of Australia Governor Michele

Bullock said it was premature to contemplate near-term rate cuts

as inflation remained too high.

In Sydney, energy stocks were the top losers with a

drop of 3.9%, dragged by Woodside and weighed down by

volatility in oil prices.

Woodside fell 6.8% and was among the top losers on the

benchmark stock index, as the country's largest energy firm

traded ex-dividend and Citi downgraded it to "sell" from

"neutral".

Among other sectors, financials ended 0.9% higher.

The "Big Four" banks gained between 0.8% and 2.2%, with ANZ

up 2.2%.

Financial conglomerate Macquarie closed 1.3% higher

after it said it was selling data centre operator AirTrunk to

Blackstone in a A$24 billion ($16.14 billion) deal.

Real estate and information technology stocks

added 1.8% and 2.2%, respectively.

Among individual stocks, data centre operator NEXTDC ( NXDCF )

rose 8.2% and was the top gainer on the benchmark

index, buoyed by positive sentiment in the data centre space

after the sale of larger rival AirTrunk.

Challenger fell 11% and was one of the top

laggards, after a shareholder cut its stake in the investment

management firm.

In New Zealand, the benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index rose

1% to 12,678.7.

($1 = 1.4874 Australian dollars)

(Reporting by Rishav Chatterjee in Bengaluru; Editing by

Subhranshu Sahu)