Australian Shares Extend Gains as Energy and Materials Bounce Back

By Oliver Gray
Investing.com - The S&P/ASX 200 added 40.10 points or 0.60% to 6,688.10 after the first hour of Friday’s trade, extending gains of 0.8% in the previous session as a continued recovery of Oil and Iron ore prices boosted the Energy and Materials sectors.
ASX 200 Futures were pointing 0.2% lower.
Among stocks, Woodside Energy Ltd (ASX: WDS ) added 2.9%, Santos Ltd (ASX: STO ) gained 2.7%, Beach Energy Ltd (ASX: BPT ) lifted 3.7% and Viva Energy Group Ltd (ASX: VEA ) increased 1.7%.
Heavyweight mining companies rallied as Rio Tinto Ltd (ASX: RIO ) added 2.9%, BHP Billiton Ltd (ASX: BHP ) lifted 2.3%, Fortescue Metals Group Ltd (ASX: FMG ) gained 3.3% and Champion Iron Ltd (ASX: CIA ) added 4.8%.
Information Technology added 1.2% overall as Block Inc (ASX: SQ2 ) lifted 1.3%, Brainchip Holdings Ltd (ASX: BRN ) gained 2.7%, Computershare Ltd. (ASX: CPU ) added 0.8% and Novonix Ltd (ASX: NVX ) lifted 5.1%.
Financials were 0.3% higher collectively as Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX: MQG ) eased 0.4%, Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Ltd (ASX: ANZ ) down 0.1%, Commonwealth Bank Of Australia (ASX: CBA ) up 0.1% and Westpac Banking Corp (ASX: WBC ) trading flat.
On the bond markets, Australia 10-Year yields were at 3.514% while United States 10-Year rates were at 3.013%.
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 added 0.4% to 11,159.4.

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