By Oliver Gray
Investing.com - The S&P/ASX 200 added 56.8 points or 0.8% to 6,951 after the first hour of Monday’s trade, extending gains for the third consecutive session as investors tracked a positive close among U.S. equities on Friday.
ASX 200 Futures were pointing 0.9% higher.
Among stocks, Materials led the gains, up 1.9% as Rio Tinto Ltd (ASX:RIO) gained 0.8%, BHP Group Ltd (ASX:BHP) lifted 2.4%, Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (ASX:FMG) gained 2.9% and Champion Iron Ltd (ASX:CIA) added 2.4%.
Information Technology lifted 1.5%, with Block Inc (ASX:SQ2) up 4.7%, Appen Ltd (ASX:APX) adding 2.1%, Megaport Ltd (ASX:MP1) up 5.3% and Novonix Ltd (ASX:NVX) gaining 2.2%.
Financials were up 0.6% collectively as Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX:MQG) added 1.2%, Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd (ASX:ANZ) lifted 1%, Commonwealth Bank Of Australia (ASX:CBA) gained 0.4%, National Australia Bank Ltd (ASX:NAB) added 0.2% and Westpac Banking Corp (ASX:WBC) lifted 0.7%.
Meantime, A2 Milk Company Ltd (ASX:A2M) lifted 3.1% after Synlait received the renewal approval to produce Chinese-labelled infant formula.
Ahead in the week, investors will be focusing on fresh unemployment data which is expected to remain at record lows of 3.4% in August. Meantime, business and consumer confidence for September will also be closely watched.
On the bond markets, Australia 10-Year rates were at 3.563%, while United States 10-Year yields were at 3.315%.
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 added 42.8 points or 0.4% to 11,800.5.