The S&P/ASX 200 index rose 0.13 per cent to 7,368.9 at the close of trade. It firmed 0.8 per cent for the week to notch its fifth straight weekly gain, having breached the 7,400 level for the first time on Wednesday.
“Stocks have been very resilient this week and sell-offs have been marginal … any risk from a possible hike in rates or other sources isn’t manifesting in prices at the moment,” said Kyle Rodda, an analyst at IG Markets.
“There seems to be a tendency to rotate to other stocks instead of dumping them altogether”.
Tech stocks jumped over 3 per cent, after gains in US peers drove the Nasdaq higher overnight.
Buy-now-pay-later firms Zip Co and Afterpay Ltd jumped 9.9 per cent and 6.5 per cent, respectively.
Export-dependent healthcare stocks gained more than 1 per cent as the greenback strengthened against the Australian dollar after hints of a sooner-than-expected tapering of US monetary stimulus.
Drugmaker CSL Ltd was up 1.1 per cent, while medical device maker Resmed Inc advanced 2.7 per cent.
But mining stocks closed over 1 per cent lower, with sector heavyweight BHP Group and top gold producer Newcrest Mining losing 2.5 per cent and 2.9 per cent, respectively.
Energy stocks dropped 1.9 per cent as oil prices weakened due to the firmer US dollar.
Woolworths Group fell as much as 1.9 per cent to an over two-week low after the industrial relations watchdog said it was suing the country’s largest supermarket chain for underpaying staff.
New Zealand’s benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index ended marginally higher at 12,551.9, helped by gains in consumer and healthcare stocks.
Air New Zealand fell 0.3 per cent after saying it expected losses in fiscal 2021 and 2022.
