• Australian mining stocks rise as much as 2%, making them among the top gainers in the broader benchmark , which is down 0.6%

• Sub-index on track for third straight day of gains, if trends sustain

• Copper prices edged to a three-month high on the back of fund buying due to supply issues, shrugging off worries of a lack of progress to the end of the Iran war [MET/L]

• BHP and Rio Tinto advance as much as 2.4% and 2%, respectively

• Both stocks notch record highs

• YTD, AXMM up 20.8%, including the day's moves, outpacing a 0.9% loss in the AXJO
(Reporting by Nikita Maria Jino in Bengaluru)