July 28 (Reuters) - Australian shares rose on Thursday, lifted by miners and gold stocks, while the U.S Federal Reserve delivered an expected rate hike and eased fears about the pace of future increases.

The S&P/ASX 200 index added 0.8% by 0025 GMT. The benchmark had ended 0.23% higher on Wednesday.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell pushed back on recession fears in the United States, suggesting that the economy is softening, and raised rates by an expected three-quarters making it the fastest tightening of monetary policy since 1980s.

Domestic miners gained 1.6% on higher iron ore prices as profits at industrial firms in top steel producer China rebounded last month.

Global miners BHP Group and Rio Tinto advanced 1.6% and 0.6%, respectively.

Fortescue Metals rose 0.8% after it forecast higher iron ore shipments for the next year and logged record quarterly shipments despite a tight labour market and higher costs.

Energy stocks jumped 0.6%, with oil and gas major Woodside Energy Group and Santos up 1.4% and nearly 2%, respectively.

Strong bullion prices led gold stocks to climb 1.4%, with the country's largest gold miner Newcrest Mining gaining 0.9%.

Technology stocks added 2.5% were among the top gainers on the benchmark after tracking sharp gains of its Wall Street peers.

ASX-listed shares of Block Inc scaled 4.6% higher, while battery maker Novonix soared 10.7% leading the gains on the sub-index.

Financials rose 0.8%, with the so-called big four banks gaining between 0.4% and 0.7%.

New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index jumped 1.6% to 11,306.98 points. (Reporting by Navya Mittal in Bengaluru; editing by Uttaresh.V)