Updates to market close

By Nikita Maria Jino

Dec 5 (Reuters) - Australian shares ended modestly higher on Thursday as gains in technology and consumer stocks outweighed losses in miners and energy firms, while locally listed shares of payments firm Block climbed thanks to Bitcoin topping $100,000 for the first time.

The S&P/ASX 200 index .AXJO closed 0.15% higher at 8,474.9 points.

ASX-listed shares of Block Inc SQ2.AX, which bought Australian buy-now-pay-later firm Afterpay in 2022, jumped more than 5% to a 31-month high of A$152.53, propelling it into the top 10 stocks in Australia.

Transactions related to Bitcoin BTC= account for about 40% of Block's earnings. The world's most popular and expensive cryptocurrency catapulted to $100,000 for the first time.

"Aussies will start to be a bit more aware of the price of Bitcoin because they'll see Block continue to probably rise higher in the year ahead," said Jessica Amir, marketing analyst at trading platform moomoo.

Technology stocks .AXIJ rose 1% to end at their highest since April 2000 after hitting a lifetime high earlier in the day, tracking a broader rally in their Wall Street peers.

Logistics software maker WiseTech Global WTC.AX jumped around 2% and accounting software maker Xero XRO.AX advanced around 0.8%.

Staple consumer firms .AXSJ gained 0.8%, with top supermarket chains Woolworths WOW.AX and Coles COL.AX adding 0.8% and 1.5%, respectively, after soft economic growth brought forward bets of an interest rate cut by a month to April.

Discretionary consumer firms .AXDJ ended 1.1% higher, a record high. Sector heavyweight Wesfarmers WES.AX added 1.3%.

Banks .AXFJ gained 0.4%, extending their rally through the week. Commonwealth Bank of Australia CBA.AX rose 0.7%.

Miners .AXMM ended flat. Rio Tinto RIO.AX and Fortescue FMG.AX rose 0.6% and 0.1%, respectively, while BHP BHP.AX ended 1% lower.

Energy stocks .AXEJ shed 0.9% as oil prices steadied after a steep fall in the previous session, with Woodside Energy WDS.AX and Santos STO.AX among the top losers. O/R

In New Zealand, the benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index .NZ50 ended flat at 12,896.95 points.

Dairy giant Fonterra FCG.NZ lost 0.5% on weak first-quarter profit after tax.

(Reporting by Nikita Maria Jino in Bengaluru; Editing by Janane Venkatraman)

((Nikita.Jino@thomsonreuters.com;))

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