Key points
- ASX 200 tech shares finished the day in the green on Monday
- Afterpay closed slightly in the red after recovering from a steep fall earlier in the day
- Technology shares followed the performance of the tech shares on US markets
ASX 200 tech shares finished in the green today after their NASDAQ counterparts rebounded at the end of last week.
The S&P/ASX All Technology Index (ASX: XTX) closed up 0.68% today, while the S&P/ASX 200 Info Tech (ASX:XIJ) index finished 0.75% higher.
Let's take a look at what happened to ASX 200 tech shares today.
Why are tech shares in the green?
ASX tech shares seemed to be following in the footsteps of the tech rally in the United States on Friday.
The NASDAQ-100 Technology Sector Index (NASDAQ: NDXT) finished up 1.41% on Friday night in the US. This often sets the pace for Australian tech shares, as my Foolish colleague James noted this morning.
The Megaport (ASX: MP1) share price closed 1.15% higher, trading at $18.41. Meanwhile, software provider TechnologyOne (ASX: TNE) also had a good day, up 2.06%.
Artificial Intelligence data provider Appen Ltd (ASX: APX) jumped 0.2% while Xero Limited (ASX: XRO) rose 0.43%. Altium Limited (ASX: ALU) gained 1.54% while telecommunications provider Chorus Limited (ASX: CNU) closed the session 1.23% higher.
One ASX 200 tech company that had a roller-coaster day is Afterpay Ltd (ASX: APT). The buy now, pay later company's shares closed slightly lower, down 0.84% to $68.45.
However, earlier this morning, Afterpay shares dropped 2.79% from Friday's close to an intraday low of $67.10. This may be because Block Inc (NYSE: SQ) also fell 2.67% on Wall Street on Friday night. Afterpay will trade on the ASX for the final time on 19 January pending its takeover by Block.
Today's gains for ASX 200 tech shares follow a sell-off on Friday when the All Technology Index dropped 2.56%. Meanwhile, the S&P/ASX 200 Info Tech Index fell 3.94% on the final day of last week.
