News: XIJ Strong corporate earnings lift Australia shares

Aug 23 (Reuters) - Australian shares rose on Monday, led by mining and technology stocks, as upbeat annual results from Event Hospitality & Entertainment and plumbing firm Reliance Worldwide lifted risk appetite in the final week of the corporate earnings season.

The S&P/ASX 200 index (xjo) was up 0.15% at 7,472.3 points points, as of 0158 GMT. The benchmark closed lower at 7,460.9 points on Friday.

Technology stocks .AXIJ tracked a strong Wall Street finish from the previous session, with Australian data company Appen Ltd (APX) jumping 4.34% and Nearmap Ltd (NEA) climbing 3.82%.

Sub-index heavyweight Afterpay (APT) led the advance among tech stocks, rising as much as 3.6% to hit its highest in about two weeks.

Reliance Worldwide (RWC) touched a three-year high, jumping as much as 4%, after the global plumbing, heating and piping firm nearly tripled its final payout and doubled its annual profit.

Shares of Event Hospitality and Entertainment (EVT) rose as much as 4.8% to mark their best day in more than four months after the cinema chain operator narrowed its annual loss compared with the previous year.

Major miners .AXMM rose 0.82%, led by Ioneer Ltd (INR) , up 8.43%, followed by Pilbara Minerals Ltd (PLS) gaining 5.69%.

The country's largest mining companies - BHP Group (BHP) , Rio Tinto (RIO) , and Fortescue Metals (FMG) advanced between 1.3% and 1.7%.

Australian fuel supplier Ampol Ltd (ALD) skidded as much as 5.6%, hitting its lowest in more than three months after making a takeover bid for New Zealand peer Z Energy (ZEL) , valuing it at 24% premium to its last closing price.

Shares of Z Energy rose as much as 18.7% to their highest since March 18, 2020.

Across the Tasman Sea, New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index (nz50) rose 1.22% to 13,098.4 points.

Elsewhere, Japan's Nikkei .N225 was up 1.19% at 27333.41 points while S&P 500 E-minis futures EScv1 were up 0.17%.

($1 = 1.3986 Australian dollars)