News: ING Australian shares rise on upbeat corporate earnings, tech push

Aug 20 (Reuters) - Australian shares rose on Friday as a handful of upbeat earnings reports and firmer technology stocks outweighed losses in miners and energy names.

The S&P/ASX 200 index (xjo) rose 0.6% to 7,511.3 points by 0045 GMT, after having fallen 0.5% on Thursday.

Tech stocks .AXIJ rose 0.8%, tracking its Wall Street peers higher. Electronics equipment maker Codan Ltd (CDA) led the gains, which rose as much as 4% after reporting an over 50% profit jump in fiscal 2021.

Financials .AXFJ were up 0.8% with the "Big Four" banks gaining between 0.04% and 1.2%.

Inghams group (ING) rose as much as 9% and was among the top gainers on the benchmark index. The poultry producer reported a two-fold jump in its statutory net profit.

Gold stocks .AXGD , however, slid 1.6% as bullion prices eased. Heavyweight miner Newcrest Mining (NCM) was down 2.8% while West African Resources (WAF) fell 2.4%.

Miners .AXMM were down 0.4% to their lowest level in over four months on subdued commodity prices.

The top three miners, BHP Group (BHP) , Rio Tinto (RIO) and Fortescue Metals (FMG) fell between 0.5% and 1.2%

New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index (nz50) was marginally down 0.03% to 12,954.18 points

Two positive COVID-19 cases were detected in New Zealand's capital of Wellington and the government is due to decide whether it would extend or end the snap lockdown declared earlier this week.