Sept 23 (Reuters) - Australian shares rose for a third straight session on Thursday, driven by tech and energy firms, with strong gains on Wall Street overnight also supporting sentiment.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index rose nearly 1% to 7,366.6, marking its best day since Aug. 2, after closing 0.3% higher on Wednesday.
All three major U.S. stock indexes rose overnight after the Federal Reserve said it would likely begin reducing its monthly bond purchases as soon as November, while concerns also eased over a default by property developer China Evergrande.
In Australia, technology stocks rose 2.4%, with Afterpay Ltd adding 3.7% and ML Payments Ltd gaining 2.4% as the tech-heavy Nasdaq rose more than 1% overnight.
The energy index rose 2.1% to its highest level in more than seven weeks, led by Washington H Soul Pattinson and Co Ltd rising 5.11% and Beach Energy gaining 3.3%.
Energy majors Woodside Petroleum and Oil Search advanced as much as 2.4% and 3.0%, respectively, as oil prices settled higher overnight after U.S. crude stocks fell to their lowest in three years.
Financial stocks rose 1.1%, with Zip Co Ltd advancing 3.8%, followed by Hub24 Ltd gaining 3.5%, while the "Big Four" banks added between 0.7% and 1.5%.
The gold index, however, fell half a percent as Alkane Resources shed 4.2% and Dacian Gold lost 2.4% as bullion lost some sheen on the Fed's latest signals.
In New Zealand, the benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index rose 0.33% to 13,259.8.
Fonterra, the world's biggest dairy exporter, gained 2.3% after posting a profit surge and proposing a new capital structure to expand its domestic share. (Reporting by Aditya Munjuluru; Editing by Ramakrishnan M.)
