Australia: Shares open higher as Biden inauguration boosts sentiment

[BENGALURU] Australian shares advanced on Thursday, helped by gains among technology and gold stocks, as broader risk sentiment was lifted after the swearing in of Joe Biden as the 46th US President.

The S&P/ASX 200 index rose 0.8 per cent to 6,770.4 points by 2345 GMT.

Overnight, US stocks closed at record highs alongside global equity benchmarks as participants bet on further US stimulus under the new Biden administration to fight the coronavirus-led economic slump.

Tech stocks soared 2.5 per cent to be the best performing sector on the benchmark, tracking their peers on Wall Street as solid results from Netflix helped start a rally among shares of the rest of the FAANG group.

Buy-now-pay-later company Afterpay jumped 6 per cent to hit a fresh record high, while AI and machine learning company Appen gained 2.5 per cent.

Gold stocks rose 1.5 per cent as prices of the yellow metal rose 1 per cent on increased US stimulus hopes, with top independent gold miner Newcrest Mining surging 2.7 per cent.

Financials were also higher, with the so-called "big four" banks advancing between 0.4 per cent and 1.9 per cent.

Bucking the wider trend, energy stocks declined, with natural gas producer Woodside Petroleum and engineering services provider Worley falling 0.6 per cent and 0.7 per cent, respectively.

Woodside on Thursday forecast lower production in 2021, even as it reported a smaller-than-expected drop in fourth-quarter revenue.

Meanwhile, gas producing peer Santos rose 1 per cent as it reported quarterly output hitting a record high, although quarterly revenue fell.

The number of issues on the ASX that advanced were 1,001 while 422 declined.

New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index rose 0.6 per cent, helped by gains among utility and healthcare stocks.

REUTERS