Feb 2 (Reuters) - Australian shares rose on Friday in broad-based buying, with gold and technology stocks gaining more than 2%, while local investors awaited clues on the central bank's monetary policy decision in its upcoming meeting.

The S&P/ASX 200 index rose 1% to 7,662.20 by 0042 GMT. The benchmark is up 1.2% so far this week, after closing 1.2% lower on Thursday.

U.S. stocks rebounded overnight, as investors looked to Friday's employment report a day after the Federal Reserve quashed lingering bets that interest rate cuts could begin as early as March.

Locally, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) will keep its key interest rate unchanged at 4.35% on Tuesday and hold it there at least until end-September, according to a poll by Reuters.

"Markets are pricing the RBA cash rate to be unchanged at the next meeting on Feb. 6, with a 55% chance of a cut in May," according to Westpac.

In the local bourse, gold stocks rose as much as 2.5%, hitting their highest level since Jan. 17, as bullion prices surged after data showed U.S. weekly jobless claims rose last week.

Gold miner Northern Star Resources rose as much as 3.2%, to its highest level since Dec. 28.

Tech stocks climbed 2%, tracking overnight gains on tech-heavy Nasdaq. Tech major Xero rose 1.6%.

Mining stocks were up as much as 1.3% to their highest level since Jan. 12.

Heavyweight miners BHP Group, Rio Tinto and Fortescue gained between 0.7% and 1.3%.

Financial stocks rose as much as 0.7%, with the "Big Four" banks adding between 0.3% and 0.6%.

Energy stocks rose 0.3% and were on track for their weekly gain of 3.1%.

Among other sub-indexes, real estate stocks were 2.4% higher and health stocks advanced 1.1%.

New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index rose 0.3% to 11,953.19.

(Reporting by Sherin Sunny in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich)