By Oliver Gray
Investing.com - The S&P/ASX 200 gained 34.50 points or 0.47% to 7,330.20 in Friday’s morning deals, snapping two sessions of consecutive loss despite a negative close on Wall Street overnight as market participants rotated away from riskier assets following hawkish guidance from U.S. Federal Reserve officials earlier in the week, while the central banks of England and Norway also raised interest rates amid increasing inflation pressures.
ASX 200 Futures were pointing 0.42% higher.
Among stocks, gold miners were boosted as prices moved higher on safe-haven appeal, with Newcrest Mining Ltd (ASX:NCM) up 4.63%, Northern Star Resources Ltd (ASX:NST) added 3.8%, Perseus Mining Ltd (ASX:PRU) gained 4.93%, Chalice Gold Mines Ltd (ASX:CHN) lifted 3.22% and Evolution Mining Ltd (ASX:EVN) added 4.5%.
Heavyweight miners were also higher with Rio Tinto Ltd (ASX:RIO) up 0.7%, BHP Billiton Ltd (ASX:BHP) gained 1.39% and Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (ASX:FMG) added 1.01%, while Champion Iron Ltd (ASX:CIA) added 3.83% as Iron ore prices lifted.
Major financial names lifted with Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd (ASX:ANZ) up 0.95%, Commonwealth Bank Of Australia (ASX:CBA) adding 1.59%, National Australia Bank Ltd (ASX:NAB) up 0.73%, Westpac Banking Corp (ASX:WBC) lifting 1.38% and Bank Of Queensland Ltd. (ASX:BOQ) gaining 1.5%.
Technology stocks sank however, tracking declines on the NASDAQ Composite overnight, as Appen Ltd (ASX:APX) fell 0.69%, Megaport Ltd (ASX:MP1) fell 4.32%, Novonix Ltd (ASX:NVX) dipped 5.38%, Altium Ltd (ASX:ALU) lost 2.53% and Xero Ltd (ASX:XRO) declined 4.75.
BNPL stocks also sank, as Zip Co Ltd (ASX:Z1P) lost 6.74% and Afterpay Touch Group Ltd (ASX:APT) fell 7.25%.
On the bond markets, Australia 10-Year yields were higher at 1.599%, while United States 10-Year yields were at 1.424%.
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 was up 0.15% at 12,797.