Australian shares edged higher on Thursday, as technology stocks took cues from their peers' strong performance on Wall Street, although weaker oil prices pulled down domestic energy firms such as Woodside Petroleum and the broader sector.
The S&P/ASX 200 index was up 0.2% at 7,407, as of 0025 GMT. The benchmark closed 0.9% higher on Wednesday.
Elsewhere, S&P 500 E-minis futures were up 0.1%.
Major indexes on Wall Street extended gains overnight, as the US Federal Reserve said it will begin trimming its monthly bond purchases in November with plans to end them in 2022, an announcement that investors had been expecting.
Australian technology stocks, which track the tech-heavy Nasdaq, rose as much as 1.3% and topped gains in the benchmark index.
AI data developer Appen Ltd climbed more than 3.5% to hit its highest since Aug. 26, while buy-now-pay-later giant Afterpay added 1.8%.
Square Inc shareholders have approved the issuance of new shares for the US company's $29 billion purchase of Afterpay, bringing the buy-now-pay-later sector's largest buyout a step closer to fruition.
CSR Ltd jumped as much as 4.7% to hit a nearly six-month high following the building products maker's comments that its half-yearly profit after tax surged 163% to A$160.2 million ($119.40 million).
CSR also announced an interim dividend of A$0.135 per share.
Financials gained 0.5%, with the "Big Four" banks - Commonwealth Bank of Australia, National Australia Bank , Westpac Banking Corp and Australia and New Zealand Banking Group adding between 0.2% and 1.1%.
Bucking the trend, energy stocks fell 2.5% to hit their lowest in more than five weeks, as oil prices plunged overnight.
Major oil and gas explorer Woodside Petroleum dropped up to 3.1% to hit a five-week low, while Santos slipped 1.6%.
New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index was flat.
Napier Port Holdings was among the strong performers on the bourse, while Oceania Healthcare fell 1.5%.
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