Australian shares hit three-week highs thanks to banking and technology.

Australian shares rose to their highest level in nearly three weeks on Wednesday, boosted by banking and technology shares, as investors took comfort from the central bank’s surprise decision to ease the pace of interest rate hikes.

The S&P/ASX 200 index rose 1.76% to 6,815.5 points at 0001 GMT. The benchmark index rose 3.8 percent on Tuesday.

On Tuesday, the Reserve Bank of Australia surprised markets with a 25 basis point lower-than-expected rate hike, saying interest rates had already risen significantly, but adding that more tightening was still needed.

Shares of interest-sensitive technology companies rose 3.9% and followed the rally in the tech-heavy Nasdaq.

Software company Novonix jumped 6.6% and Megaport 5.2%, while ASX-listed Block Inc shares led the gains, up 9.3%.

Financial stocks rose 2.2%, with the “big four” banks gaining more than 2% each.

Among individual stocks, Fortescue Metals Group rose 2.2% after green energy arm Fortescue Future Industries (FFI) teamed up with energy infrastructure developer Tree Energy Solutions to develop a hydrogen energy import facility in Germany.

Link Administration Holdings jumped nearly 5% after receiving a bid of A$1.27 billion ($826.14 million) from Canada-based Dye & Durham (D&D) for corporate and business markets. Banking sectors of the stock registry company, days after the D & D bid to take over the entire company failed.

On the other side of the Tasman Sea, New Zealand’s benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index is trading up 1.19% to 11,090 points.

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand is set to raise interest rates for the fifth time by half a point later today and is expected to do the same in November to try to stem a rising tide of inflation, according to a Reuters poll of economists.

($1 = 1.5373 Australian dollars) (Reporting by Riya Sharma Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob Phillips)