* Benchmark rises almost 2%
* Tech stocks gain after 4 days
* Mercury NZ top gainer on NZ index
By Aditya Munjuluru
March 8 (Reuters) - Australian shares rose sharply on Monday and were set for their best day in two months after the U.S. Senate passed a $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief plan, while last week's upbeat U.S. jobs data also supported sentiment.
The S&P/ASX 200 index .AXJO advanced as much as 1.8% to 6,830.7 by 2240 GMT. The benchmark ended 0.7% lower on Friday.
The U.S. Senate on Saturday passed President Joe Biden's COVID-19 relief plan, one of the largest stimulus bills in U.S. history, a day after data showed that the U.S. economy created more jobs than expected in February. the weekend, Australia also started vaccinating its citizens against the coronavirus with AstraZeneca (NASDAQ:AZN)'s AZN.L vaccine. Inoculation with the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine had started in February. individual sectors, mining stocks .AXMM gained as much as 2.8%, with BHP BHP.AX and Rio Tinto (LON:RIO) RIO.AX firming 3.4% and 3%, respectively.
Technology stocks .AXIJ rose as much as 2.7%, snapping four straight sessions of losses. Buy now, pay later firm Afterpay APT.AX advanced up to 4.6%, while Appen APX.AX gained as much as 3.8%.
Financial stocks .AXFJ rose 1.5% to hit an over one-week high. The "Big Four" banks rose between 1.2% and 1.9%.
Top performers in the financial sector were Janus Henderson Group JHG.AX and IOOF Holdings IFL.AX , gaining 4.7% and 3.1%, respectively.
Energy stocks .AXEJ rose nearly 2% to a 10-week high, tracking a jump in oil prices. Oil Search OSH.AX advanced 4.3%, while Beach Energy BPT.AX firmed 3.8%.
In New Zealand, the benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index .NZ50 was 1.3% higher at 12,334.3.
The top percentage gainers on the index were Mercury NZ MCY.NZ and Synlait Milk SML.NZ , up 3.7% and 2.9%, respectively.