By Oliver Gray
Investing.com - The S&P/ASX 200 added 54.60 points or 0.74% to 7,411.50 during Friday’s first hour of trade, extending gains of 1.3% in the previous session as investors digested a slew of corporate earnings results from major U.S. technology companies overnight.
ASX 200 Futures were pointing 0.2% lower.
Among stocks, Energy companies were leading the gains, up 1.7% as Woodside Petroleum Ltd (ASX:WPL) added 1.5%, Santos Ltd (ASX:STO) gained 1.5% Beach Energy Ltd (ASX:BPT) eased 0.2% and Viva Energy Group Ltd (ASX:VEA) added 0.7%.
Information Technology lifted 1.6% collectively, as Appen Ltd (ASX:APX) lifted 3.8%, Block Inc (ASX:SQ2) added 0.4%, Novonix Ltd (ASX:NVX) gained 3.3%, Brainchip Holdings Ltd (ASX:BRN) lifted 6% and Computershare Ltd. (ASX:CPU) increased 2.5%.
Real-estate companies gained 1.2% overall as Goodman Group (ASX:GMG) added 2.6%, Charter Hall Group (ASX:CHC) lifted 1.9%, Mirvac Group (ASX:MGR) gained 1.7% and Stockland Corporation Ltd (ASX:SGP) lifted 1.5%.
Among most improved companies, Pointsbet Holdings Ltd (ASX:PBH) jumped 11.8% while Zip Co Ltd (ASX:ZIP) gained 7.4%.
On the bond markets, Australia 10-Year yields were near fresh 7-year highs of 3.165%, while United States 10-Year rates were at 2.832%.