By Oliver Gray
Investing.com - The S&P/ASX 200 was 34.80 points or 0.47% higher at 7,473.70 in Thursday’s mid-morning trade, extending gains of 0.7% in the previous session tracking a modestly higher close on Wall Street overnight despite U.S. inflation data coming in at the highest level in 40 years, reinforcing bets that the Federal Reserve will soon raise interest rates.
ASX 200 Futures were up 0.55%.
Among stocks, the Materials sector saw the largest gains, with Rio Tinto Ltd (ASX:RIO) lifting 2.65%, BHP Billiton Ltd (ASX:BHP) up 2.95%, Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (ASX:FMG) gaining 1.92%, Champion Iron Ltd (ASX:CIA) up 2.28%, Magnis Resources Ltd (ASX:MNS) lifting 0.92%, Lynas Rare Earths Ltd (ASX:LYC) adding 1.53% and OZ Minerals Ltd (ASX:OZL) gaining 1.51%.
Technology companies were mixed, with Appen Ltd (ASX:APX), Altium Ltd (ASX:ALU) and Xero Ltd (ASX:XRO) down 2.23%, 0.25% and 0.61% apiece, while Megaport Ltd (ASX:MP1), Novonix Ltd (ASX:NVX) and Brainchip Holdings Ltd (ASX:BRN) added 1.07%, 1.78% and 9.24% respectively.
BNPL players were lower with Afterpay Touch Group Ltd (ASX:APT) down 2.42% and Zip Co Ltd (ASX:Z1P) easing 0.25%.
Financials remained strong amid higher long term bond yields, with Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX:MQG) up 0.17%, Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd (ASX:ANZ) adding 0.71%, Commonwealth Bank Of Australia (ASX:CBA) lifting 0.35%, National Australia Bank Ltd (ASX:NAB) up 0.96 and Westpac Banking Corp (ASX:WBC) gaining 0.3%.
On the bond markets, Australia 10-Year yields were at 1.863% while Australia 10-Year rates were steady at 1.736%.
Among currencies, the Aussie was trading at fresh 2-month highs of 0.72845 while the US Dollar Index was near 9-week lows of 94.987.
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 added 0.13% to 12,822.