News: RIO Australian shares rise on mining, gold boost; NZ jumps

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 (xjo) 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 .AXMM 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 (BHP) and Rio Tinto (RIO) advanced 1.6% and 0.6%, respectively.

Fortescue Metals (FMG) 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 .AXEJ jumped 0.6%, with oil and gas major Woodside Energy Group (WDS) and Santos (STO) up 1.4% and nearly 2%, respectively.

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

Technology stocks .AXIJ 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 (SQ2) scaled 4.6% higher, while battery maker Novonix (NVX) soared 10.7% leading the gains on the sub-index.

Financials .AXFJ 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 (nz50) jumped 1.6% to 11,306.98 points.