* All three major Wall Street indices close higher

* BHP Group jumps 1% on forecasting record iron ore production

* Energy stocks benefit from rising oil prices

Jan 20 (Reuters) - Australian shares opened higher on Wednesday, helped by gains among tech and energy stocks, as market participants bet on hopes of further fiscal stimulus in the United States.

Overnight, all three major U.S. indexes gained between 0.4% and 1.5% after U.S. Treasury Secretary nominee Janet Yellen advocated for a hefty fiscal relief package to fight the coronavirus induced economic slump.

The S&P/ASX 200 index was up 0.6% at 6,742.6 points at 2339 GMT.

Risk appetite was buoyed by hopes the Australian central bank will extend its bond-buying programme beyond April.

Tech stocks were the biggest gainers among sectors on the benchmark index, up 2.5% tracking their U.S. peers after streaming giant Netflix jumped on beating expectations for paid subscriber additions.

Australian buy-now-pay-later company Afterpay Ltd jumped 4.8%, while accounting software maker Xero Ltd was 1.5% higher. Energy stocks gained 1%, helped by oil prices that rose on U.S. stimulus hopes and resurgent fuel demand in China.

Oil explorer Oil Search Ltd and transport fuel supplier Ampol Ltd jumped 1.1% and 2.2% respectively.

Miners were also higher, with BHP Group rising 1% after the world's biggest listed miner forecast record iron ore production for fiscal 2021.

Aged care services provider Regis Healthcare dropped as much as 14.6% after investment firm Washington H Soul Pattinson and Co withdrew a A$556.4 million ($428.3 million) takeover offer.

The number of issues on the ASX that advanced were 821 while 471 declined.

New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index rose 0.3%, helped by gains among healthcare and consumer stocks.

(Reporting by Soumyajit Saha in Bengaluru; Editing by Stephen Coates)