SYDNEY/WELLINGTON: Australian shares rose on Wednesday, driven by a rally in tech stocks which hit a record high during the session, with strong domestic earnings also boosting sentiment.

The S&P/ASX 200 index closed 0.52% higher and settled at 6,856.9.

The top performers of the session were tech stocks, which settled up 3.1% after hitting a record high during the session, tracking gains in US peers such as Apple Inc and Amazon.com Inc.

Gold stocks and miners climbed 0.6% and 0.5%, respectively, on firm prices of underlying commodities.

In New Zealand, the benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index fell 0.8% to finish the session at 12,830.03 points.