By Oliver Gray
Investing.com - The S&P/ASX 200 added 42.1 points or 0.6% to 6,865.3 after the first hour of Thursday’s trade, extending gains of 0.2% in the previous session as market participants tracked an overnight rally among U.S. indices after U.S. Federal Reserve policymakers hiked interest rates.
ASX 200 Futures were pointing 0.2% lower.
Among stocks, Information Technology companies outperformed, lifting 1.4% overall as Block Inc (ASX:SQ2) added 4.1%, Appen Ltd (ASX:APX) lifted 0.7%, Megaport Ltd (ASX:MP1) gained 6.9%, Link Administration Holdings Ltd (ASX:LNK) added 0.2%, Novonix Ltd (ASX:NVX) surged 13.6% and Brainchip Holdings Ltd (ASX:BRN) gained 5.2%.
Materials lifted 1.2% as BHP Billiton Ltd (ASX:BHP) gained 0.9%, Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (ASX:FMG) lifted 1.7%, Rio Tinto Ltd (ASX:RIO) eased 0.5% and Champion Iron Ltd (ASX:CIA) fell 6.2%.
Financials gained 0.9% as Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX:MQG) lifted 2.8%, Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd (ASX:ANZ) added 0.3%, Commonwealth Bank Of Australia (ASX:CBA) gained 0.8%, National Australia Bank Ltd (ASX:NAB) lifted 0.8% and Westpac Banking Corp (ASX:WBC) added 0.7%. Meantime, Zip Co Ltd (ASX:ZIP) continued to rally, surging 16.9%
On the bond markets, Australia 10-Year rates were 3.21% while United States 10-Year yields were at 2.765%.
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 added 1.8% to 11,331.