By Oliver Gray
Investing.com - The ASX 200 was 27.20 points or 0.37% to 7,321.60 higher during Monday’s trade, extending last week’s surge of 3.27% and trading near fresh 2-month highs as market participants cheered a strong rally in U.S. equities, despite no end to the war in Ukraine and forecasts of an aggressive tightening of monetary policy from U.S. Federal Reserve officials.
ASX 200 Futures were pointing 0.47% lower.
Among stocks, Information Technology was up around 3%, with Block Inc (ASX:SQ2) surging 9.23%, Appen Ltd (ASX:APX) up 2.44%, Megaport Ltd (ASX:MP1) adding 2.15%, Novonix Ltd (ASX:NVX) gaining 3.89%, Altium Ltd (ASX:ALU) up 2.42%, Xero Ltd (ASX:XRO) gaining 3.95% while Brainchip Holdings Ltd (ASX:BRN) fell 0.51%. Meantime, Zip Co Ltd (ASX:Z1P) added 4.06% and Tyro Payments Ltd (ASX:TYR) was up 5.83%.
Materials gained 0.72% collectively, as Rio Tinto Ltd (ASX:RIO) added 0.33%, BHP Billiton Ltd (ASX:BHP) lifted 0.63%, Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (ASX:FMG) gained 1.67%, Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX:PLS) lifted 2.86%, Arizona Lithium Ltd (ASX:AZL) added 3.23% and Lake Resources NL (ASX:LKE) lifted 2.26% while Champion Iron Ltd (ASX:CIA) lost 0.87% and Avz Minerals Ltd (ASX:AVZ) declined 0.55%.
Financials were also around 0.5% higher, with Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX:MQG) up 1.08%, Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd (ASX:ANZ) adding 0.51%, National Australia Bank Ltd (ASX:NAB) down 0.29%, Westpac Banking Corp (ASX:WBC) up 0.21% and Commonwealth Bank Of Australia (ASX:CBA) gaining 0.83%
Among currencies, the Aussie was little changed near 4-month highs of 0.74139, while the US Dollar Index traded below recent 22-month highs at 98.27.
On the bond markets, Australia 10-Year rates were at 39-month highs of 2.544% while United States 10-Year yields were at 2.155%.
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 was down 0.27% to 12,143.