By Oliver Gray
Investing.com - The S&P/ASX 200 added 40.10 points or 0.60% to 6,688.10 after the first hour of Friday’s trade, extending gains of 0.8% in the previous session as a continued recovery of Oil and Iron ore prices boosted the Energy and Materials sectors.
ASX 200 Futures were pointing 0.2% lower.
Among stocks, Woodside Energy Ltd (ASX:WDS) added 2.9%, Santos Ltd (ASX:STO) gained 2.7%, Beach Energy Ltd (ASX:BPT) lifted 3.7% and Viva Energy Group Ltd (ASX:VEA) increased 1.7%.
Heavyweight mining companies rallied as Rio Tinto Ltd (ASX:RIO) added 2.9%, BHP Billiton Ltd (ASX:BHP) lifted 2.3%, Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (ASX:FMG) gained 3.3% and Champion Iron Ltd (ASX:CIA) added 4.8%.
Information Technology added 1.2% overall as Block Inc (ASX:SQ2) lifted 1.3%, Brainchip Holdings Ltd (ASX:BRN) gained 2.7%, Computershare Ltd. (ASX:CPU) added 0.8% and Novonix Ltd (ASX:NVX) lifted 5.1%.
Financials were 0.3% higher collectively as Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX:MQG) eased 0.4%, Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd (ASX:ANZ) down 0.1%, Commonwealth Bank Of Australia (ASX:CBA) up 0.1% and Westpac Banking Corp (ASX:WBC) trading flat.
On the bond markets, Australia 10-Year yields were at 3.514% while United States 10-Year rates were at 3.013%.
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 added 0.4% to 11,159.4.