* Energy, tech stocks lead gains
* Cooper Energy surges on gas find
* NZ benchmark sees best week in over 10 yrs
(Updates to close)
By Shriya Ramakrishnan
Sept 6 (Reuters) - Australian shares had a solid rise on Friday, contributing to the market's third straight weekly gain, fuelled by hopes for reduced tensions after Washington and Beijing agreed to hold high-level trade talks next month.
The S&P/ASX 200 index .AXJO advanced 0.5% to 6,647.3. The benchmark rose 0.9% on Thursday and recorded a weekly gain of 0.7%.
The latest round of talks would the first in-person, high-level discussion since a failed trade meeting at the end of July prompted U.S. President Donald Trump to proceed with fresh tariffs on virtually all remaining Chinese imports so far untouched by the trade war. U.S. market is now within 2% of all time-highs, and we are basically kind of soldiers to fortunes on that, following suit on the decent mark-up across the board," Damian Rooney, director of equity sales at Argonaut said.
On Friday, risk sentiment was also supported by strong U.S. economic data that revealed a rebound in the services industry last month.
Australia's energy stocks .AXEJ jumped 1.3%, and were among the top gainers on the benchmark stock index, helped by rising oil prices. O/R
Cooper Energy COE.AX surged as much as 17.1% to hit an over 11-year peak, making it the top performer on the energy sub-index. The oil and gas explorer said drilling at an exploration well led to the discovery of a gasfield in the Otway Basin in offshore Victoria. stocks .AXIJ closed 2.2% higher, tracking their U.S. peers, which drove a rally on Wall Street on Thursday.
Aussie tech firms Appen Ltd APX.AX and Computershare Ltd CPU.AX advanced 2.6% and 3.2% respectively.
Heavyweight financial stocks .AXFJ posted a second straight session of gains, with the "Big Four" banks ending between 0.4% and 0.9% higher.
New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index .NZ50 closed up 1% to 11,218.99, a record high and produced its biggest weekly gain in over 10 years.
Tourism Holdings THL.NZ and Vista Group International VGL.NZ strengthened 3.7% and 3.4% each.