By Oliver Gray
Investing.com - The S&P/ASX 200 added 16 points or 0.2% to 6,864.7 after the first hour of Friday’s trade, extending gains for the second consecutive session as investors tracked a positive session among U.S. equities overnight amid rising bond yields and an easing US Dollar.
ASX 200 Futures were pointing 0.2% higher.
Among stocks, Materials led the gains, up 1.8% as Rio Tinto Ltd (ASX:RIO) added 0.8%, BHP Group Ltd (ASX:BHP) gained 1.4%, Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (ASX:FMG) lifted 3.2% and Champion Iron Ltd (ASX:CIA) added 2.9%.
Information Technology lifted 0.7% overall with Block Inc (ASX:SQ2) adding 4.2%, Appen Ltd (ASX:APX) up 3.2%, Novonix Ltd (ASX:NVX) lifting 3.5% and Brainchip Holdings Ltd (ASX:BRN) falling 0.5%.
Financials pushed 0.3% higher as Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX:MQG) dipped 0.7%, Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd (ASX:ANZ) added 1.2%, Commonwealth Bank Of Australia (ASX:CBA) gained 1.1%, National Australia Bank Ltd (ASX:NAB) lifted 0.9% and Westpac Banking Corp (ASX:WBC) gained 1.2%.
On the bond markets, Australia 10-Year yields were at 3.661% while United States 10-Year rates were 3.325%.
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 fell 0.2% to 11,653.8.