Jan 22 (Reuters) - Australian shares rose on Monday, led by heavyweight financials, while technology stocks emerged as the top percentage gainers following a chipmaker-fuelled rally on Wall Street last week.

The S&P/ASX 200 index was up 0.56% at 7,463.30 points, as of 0030 GMT. The benchmark lost 1% last week.

The S&P 500 posted a record high close on Friday for the first time in two years, fuelled by a rally in U.S. chipmakers and other heavyweight technology stocks on optimism around artificial intelligence.

On the domestic bourse, Australian technology stocks rose as much as 1.1% on Monday, their highest since Sept. 4, 2023.

Sector majors Xero and Wisetech Global climbed 2% each.

Financials climbed 1%, with the "Big Four" banks rising between 0.7% and 1.3%.

Gold stocks rose as much as 0.2%, lifted by a 1.1% jump in shares of Northern Star Resources.

Bucking the trend, energy stocks edged 0.1% lower as oil prices dipped on Friday on concerns over demand in China.

Heavyweight mining stocks slipped 0.1%, with sector majors BHP, Rio Tinto and Fortescue falling between 0.04% and 0.6%.

Shares of Liontown Resources fell as much as 25.9% to their lowest level since June 2022 to emerge as the top loser in the benchmark index, after the lithium miner announced a review of the planned expansion of its Kathleen Valley project.

Lynas Rare Earths fell as much as 3.4%, their lowest level since July 2021, after its second-quarter revenue fell sharply.

Diversified miner South32 fell as much as 5.2% and was on track for its worst day in five months on lower-than-expected quarterly coal and manganese output.

Across the Tasman Sea, New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index rose 0.3% to 11,699.01.

(Reporting by Sherin Sunny in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)