April 22 (Reuters) - Australian shares were buoyed on Thursday by the mining, banking and technology sectors, although losses in energy stocks following an overnight drop in crude prices capped the gains.
The S&P/ASX 200 index rose 0.5% to 7,033.2 by 0045 GMT, after shedding about 1% in the previous two sessions.
Among other markets, Japan's Nikkei rose 1.17%. S&P 500 E-minis futures were down 0.25%, while all three major U.S. indexes finished higher overnight.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq added 1.2%, outshining the S&P 500 in percentage gain shortly before the closing bell.
In Australia, the top gainers were royalty investment firm Deterra Royalties, up 6.34%, and nickel-gold miner IGO , which rose about 3%.
Technology stocks were the top percentage gainers, advancing as much as 1.1%. Data analytics firm Nuix added 1.9%, while Megaport gained 1.3%.
Financials rose 0.6%, with all the Big Four lenders advancing between 0.4% and 0.8%.
Miners were up 0.7%, helped by BHP Group and Rio Tinto, which added about 0.9% each.
Energy stocks declined about 2%, with Oil Search and Woodside Petroleum shedding about 2.5% each, as oil prices fell to their lowest in a week overnight.
Australia's top independent gas producer, Woodside, saw its March-quarter production dip slightly from a year earlier, even as an 8% rise in sales volume led to a jump in sales revenue.
Meanwhile, AGL Energy hit record low after its chief executive officer resigned just less than a month after the power producer announced its plans to split its businesses into two.
Across the Tasman Sea, New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index rose 0.36% to 12,579.9, rebounding from two consecutive days of losses.
The top percentage gainers were Fisher & Paykel Healthcare and Synlait Milk, up as much as 2% each. (Reporting by Sameer Manekar in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)
