Australia: Shares rise for third session on tech, energy boost

[BENGALURU] Australian shares rose for a third straight session on Thursday, driven by tech and energy firms, with strong gains on Wall Street overnight also supporting sentiment.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index rose nearly 1 per cent to 7,366.6, marking its best day since Aug 2, after closing 0.3 per cent higher on Wednesday.

All three major US stock indexes rose overnight after the Federal Reserve said it would likely begin reducing its monthly bond purchases as soon as November, while concerns also eased over a default by property developer China Evergrande.

In Australia, technology stocks rose 2.4 per cent, with Afterpay adding 3.7 per cent and ML Payments gaining 2.4 per cent as the tech-heavy Nasdaq rose more than 1 per cent overnight.

The energy index rose 2.1 per cent to its highest level in more than seven weeks, led by Washington H Soul Pattinson and Co rising 5.11 per cent and Beach Energy gaining 3.3 per cent.

Energy majors Woodside Petroleum and Oil Search advanced as much as 2.4 per cent and 3.0 per cent, respectively, as oil prices settled higher overnight after US crude stocks fell to their lowest in three years.

Financial stocks rose 1.1 per cent, with Zip advancing 3.8 per cent, followed by Hub24 Ltd gaining 3.5 per cent, while the "Big Four" banks added between 0.7 per cent and 1.5 per cent.

The gold index, however, fell half a percent as Alkane Resources shed 4.2 per cent and Dacian Gold lost 2.4 per cent as bullion lost some sheen on the Fed's latest signals.

In New Zealand, the benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index rose 0.33 per cent to 13,259.8.

Fonterra, the world's biggest dairy exporter, gained 2.3 per cent after posting a profit surge and proposing a new capital structure to expand its domestic share.

REUTERS