Australian earnings beats are outpacing misses for the first time in four years, defying a challenging economic backdrop and bolstering chances for a stalled stock rally to resume.

Almost half of the companies on the S&P/ASX 200 Index reported better-than-expected profits, with earnings beats outnumbering misses by 1.5 times, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

The stronger results helped propel the nation's equity benchmark index to a record high in early August, before paring gains to end the month up 1.1%. The Australian Securities Exchange logo was photographed inside the office in Sydney by Brendon Thorne/Bloomberg.