News: XIJ Australia stocks rise on U.S. stimulus, economic recovery hopes

• Benchmark rises almost 2%
• Tech stocks gain after 4 days
• Mercury NZ top gainer on NZ index

Australian shares rose sharply on Monday and were set for their best day in two months after the U.S. Senate passed a $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief plan, while last week's upbeat U.S. jobs data also supported sentiment.

The S&P/ASX 200 index (xjo) advanced as much as 1.8% to 6,830.7 by 2240 GMT. The benchmark ended 0.7% lower on Friday.

The U.S. Senate on Saturday passed President Joe Biden's COVID-19 relief plan, one of the largest stimulus bills in U.S. history, a day after data showed that the U.S. economy created more jobs than expected in February.

Over the weekend, Australia also started vaccinating its citizens against the coronavirus with AstraZeneca's AZN.L vaccine. Inoculation with the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine had started in February.

Among individual sectors, mining stocks .AXMM gained as much as 2.8%, with BHP (BHP) and Rio Tinto (RIO) firming 3.4% and 3%, respectively.

Technology stocks .AXIJ rose as much as 2.7%, snapping four straight sessions of losses. Buy now, pay later firm Afterpay (APT) advanced up to 4.6%, while Appen (APX) gained as much as 3.8%.

Financial stocks .AXFJ rose 1.5% to hit an over one-week high. The "Big Four" banks rose between 1.2% and 1.9%.

Top performers in the financial sector were Janus Henderson Group (JHG) and IOOF Holdings (IFL) , gaining 4.7% and 3.1%, respectively.

Energy stocks .AXEJ rose nearly 2% to a 10-week high, tracking a jump in oil prices. Oil Search (OSH) advanced 4.3%, while Beach Energy (BPT) firmed 3.8%.

In New Zealand, the benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index (nz50) was 1.3% higher at 12,334.3.

The top percentage gainers on the index were Mercury NZ (MCY) and Synlait Milk (SML) , up 3.7% and 2.9%, respectively.