Feb 4 (Reuters) - Australian shares inched higher on Friday, and were on track to post their biggest weekly gain since late-December, as investors took comfort in the central bank's decision to push back on market wagers for an early rate hike.
Firmer commodity prices over the course of the week also supported stocks in the resource-heavy bourse.
The S&P/ASX 200 index was up 0.2% at 7,092, as of 1230 GMT. The benchmark has gained 1.3% so far this week.
Earlier this week, the Reserve Bank of Australia said it was in no hurry to raise interest rates, but ended its A$275 billion ($194.40 billion) bond-buying campaign as expected.
Investor sentiment has been swinging between concerns over policy tightening by the U.S. Federal Reserve and other central banks and confidence in the global economic recovery.
Technology stocks recovered lost ground to gain 1.7% after a nearly 6% slump in the previous session. Shares of Xero Ltd, WiseTech Global and Computershare Ltd advanced as much as between 0.3% and 2.3% on Friday.
Financials gained about 0.2%, with Macquarie Group Ltd rising more than 1.2%.
Shares of Westpac Banking Corp were set to record their best week since last May after the lender beat estimates for first-quarter profit and made headway in cutting costs.
Energy stocks rose about 0.2%, with major oil and gas explorers Woodside Petroleum and Santos Ltd climbing about 0.1% each.
REA Group Ltd notched its best intraday session since Dec. 8 after the property online service provider posted strong half-yearly earnings.
Bucking the positive mood, miners snapped a two-session winning streak to lose as much as 1.5%.
Heavyweights Rio Tinto Ltd and BHP Group Ltd dropped about 1.6% and 1.2%, respectively.
The greenback strengthened a day after dismal U.S. private payrolls data sent bullion prices to one-week highs, making the metal expensive for holders of other currencies. Tracking bullion prices, gold explorers fell 0.3%, with Newcrest Mining dipping 0.2%.
New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index slipped 0.7% to 12,243.05.
(Reporting by Archishma Iyer; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)
