Sept 23 (Reuters) - Australian shares rose for a third straight...

Sept 23 (Reuters) - Australian shares rose for a third straight session on Thursday, driven by tech and energy firms, with strong gains on Wall Street overnight also supporting sentiment.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index (xjo) rose nearly 1% to 7,366.6, marking its best day since Aug. 2, after closing 0.3% higher on Wednesday.

All three major U.S. stock indexes rose overnight after the Federal Reserve said it would likely begin reducing its monthly bond purchases as soon as November, while concerns also eased over a default by property developer China Evergrande 3333.HK .

In Australia, technology stocks .AXIJ rose 2.4%, with Afterpay Ltd (APT) adding 3.7% and ML Payments Ltd (EML) gaining 2.4% as the tech-heavy Nasdaq .IXIC rose more than 1% overnight.

The energy index .AXEJ rose 2.1% to its highest level in more than seven weeks, led by Washington H Soul Pattinson and Co Ltd (SOL) rising 5.11% and Beach Energy (BPT) gaining 3.3%.

Energy majors Woodside Petroleum (WPL) and Oil Search (OSH) advanced as much as 2.4% and 3.0%, respectively, as oil prices settled higher overnight after U.S. crude stocks fell to their lowest in three years.

Financial stocks .AXFJ rose 1.1%, with Zip Co Ltd (Z1P) advancing 3.8%, followed by Hub24 Ltd (HUB) gaining 3.5%, while the "Big Four" banks added between 0.7% and 1.5%.

The gold index .AXGD , however, fell half a percent as Alkane Resources (ALK) shed 4.2% and Dacian Gold (DCN) lost 2.4% as bullion lost some sheen on the Fed's latest signals.

In New Zealand, the benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index (nz50) rose 0.33% to 13,259.8.

Fonterra (FCG) , the world's biggest dairy exporter, gained 2.3% after posting a profit surge and proposing a new capital structure to expand its domestic share.