* U.S. stocks hit record high overnight
* Gold stocks rise on robust commodity prices
* Woodside Petroleum falls on lower production forecast
By Soumyajit Saha
Jan 21 (Reuters) - 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 U.S. President.
The S&P/ASX 200 index .AXJO rose 0.8% to 6,770.4 points by 2345 GMT.
Overnight, U.S. stocks closed at record highs alongside global equity benchmarks as participants bet on further U.S. stimulus under the new Biden administration to fight the coronavirus-led economic slump. MKTS/GLOB
Tech stocks .AXIJ soared 2.5% to be the best performing sector on the benchmark, tracking their peers on Wall Street as solid results from Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) helped start a rally among shares of the rest of the FAANG group. .N
Buy-now-pay-later company Afterpay APT.AX jumped 6% to hit a fresh record high, while AI and machine learning co Appen Ltd APX.AX gained 2.5%.
Gold stocks .AXGD rose 1.5% as prices of the yellow metal rose 1% on increased U.S. stimulus hopes, with top independent gold miner Newcrest Mining NCM.AX surging 2.7%.
Financials .AXFJ were also higher, with the so-called "big four" banks advancing between 0.4% and 1.9%.
Bucking the wider trend, energy stocks .AXEJ declined, with natural gas producer Woodside Petroleum Ltd WPL.AX and engineering services provider Worley Ltd WOR.AX falling 0.6% and 0.7%, respectively.
Woodside on Thursday forecast lower production in 2021, even as it reported a smaller-than-expected drop in fourth-quarter revenue. gas producing peer Santos Ltd STO.AX rose 1% as it reported quarterly output hitting a record high, although quarterly revenue fell. number of issues on the ASX that advanced were 1,001 while 422 declined.
New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index .NZ50 rose 0.6%, helped by gains among utility and healthcare stocks.