* BNPL stocks lead tech sector higher
* Seek gains most in more than five months
* NZ economy seen doing better in near term (Updates to close)
By Deepali Saxena
Sept 16 (Reuters) - Australian shares followed their U.S. peers higher on Wednesday, led by tech stocks, as investors awaited the Federal Reserve's policy statement due later in the day for its view on the U.S. economy.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index .AXJO rose 1% to a one-week closing high, with Seek Ltd SEK.AX soaring 13% at one point after a report indicated that Alibaba (NYSE:BABA) BABA.N 9988.HK was eyeing an investment in its Chinese unit.
The online jobs portal later said it was in talks with a number of parties on whether to bring new investors into the unit. The company did not name the parties it was talking to. in the day, the Fed will conclude its two-day meeting, its first since adopting a more accommodative approach to inflation and pledging to keep interest rates low for longer.
Wall Street rose overnight on hopes for an ultra-accommodative policy stance, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq .IXIC climbing the most. .N
James Tao, a market analyst at CommSec, said investors were waiting for the Fed chairman's commentary given expectations that the central bank will keep interest rates on hold.
Australia's tech stocks .AXIJ climbed 2.4%, with buy-now-pay-later firms bouncing. Bellwether Afterpay APT.AX hit a near two-week high and closed 4% higher.
Among the 'big four' banks, Commonwealth Bank of Australia CBA.AX rose 1%, while Australia and New Zealand Banking Group ANZ.AX dropped 0.3%.
CSL CSL.AX , the country's biggest biotech firm, added nearly 1.4%, while mining giants Rio Tinto (LON:RIO) RIO.AX and BHP BHP.AX rose more than 2% each.
In New Zealand, the benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index .NZ50 ended 0.4% higher at 11,814.71.
Kathmandu Holdings KMD.NZ and Arvida Group ARV.NZ were the top gainers on the benchmark, rising nearly 2.5% each.
Forecasts released by the treasury department showed the economy bounced back faster from a lockdown put in place to limit the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. island nation will report its second-quarter GDP numbers on Thursday.