Australian shares rebounded on Friday from a tech-led selloff in the previous session, as banking gains led the climb, while fibre cement maker James Hardie's shares dropped after it ousted CEO Jack Truong for breaching code of conduct.
The S&P/ASX 200 index was up 1.5% at 7,468.3 by 0017 GMT. The benchmark had settled 2.7% lower on Thursday, its worst session in sixteen months.
James Hardie on Friday fired Truong and said his work-related interactions over the last several months with a group of 30-50 employees "extensively and materially breached" the company's code of conduct.
Shares of the world's largest fibre cement maker dropped as much as 10.8%, and were set for their worst session since March 2020.
Heavyweight financials jumped as much as 2.2% to notch their biggest intraday jump since October last year, propelled by the "Big Four" banks.
Australian shares plunge most in 16 months as hawkish Fed batters tech stocks
Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Westpac Banking Corp, and Australia and New Zealand Banking Group added between 1.6% and 2.2%.
Technology stocks, which fell 6.4% on Thursday in its worst session since March 2020, rose 1.3%.
Buy now, pay later bellwether Afterpay rose as much as 2.9% in its biggest intraday jump since Dec. 22, 2021, while Tyro Payments jumped 1.9%.
Energy stocks added as much as 2.2%, as oil prices gained overnight on escalating unrest in OPEC+ oil producer Kazakhstan and supply outages in Libya.
Major oil and gas explorers Santos Ltd and Woodside Petroleum gained 1.8% and 2.1%, respectively.
Australian Pharmaceutical Industries fell 12.4%, while Woolworths Group and Wesfarmers rose 0.4% and 1.6%, respectively.
Australian Pharmaceutical Industries said Wesfarmers Ltd would buy it for A$763.6 million ($546.9 million) after Woolworths pulled out of a race to acquire the country's top drugstore chain.
Strong iron ore prices lifted miners by 1.2%, while healthcare stocks rose 1.3%.
New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index was flat at 12,988.51 points.
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