Australian Market Advances On Wall Street Lead, Bargain Hunting

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is trading higher on Thursday with stocks surging ahead on bargain hunting after the previous session's sharp setback. A positive lead from Wall Street is also aiding sentiment to an extent.

Energy, healthcare, consumer discretionary and industrial stocks are trading firm. Stocks from property trusts and financial sections are also finding good support.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index, which rose to around 4,801, is currently trading at 4,785.6, up 41.5 points or 0.9 percent from its previous close. The broader All Ordinaries index is up 43 points or 0.9 percent at 4,770.8, after advancing to 4,783.1.

In the energy sector, Woodside Petroleum, Santos, Oil Search and Origin Energy are up 1.5 to 2.3 percent, while Caltex Australia is up with a gain of 3.3 percent.

Among bank stocks, ANZ Bank, Commonwealth Bank of Australia and Westpac (WBK) are trading modestly higher, while National Australia Bank is trading flat. Bendigo & Adelaide Bank and Bank of Queensland are up 0.5 percent and 1.3 percent, respectively.

Miners BHP Billiton (BHP) and Rio Tinto (RIO) are up 0.4 percent and 0.8 percent, respectively.

Aurora Oil & Gas is up more than 4 percent. Mirvac Group is adding 3.2 percent. Atlas Iron, Henderson Group, WorleyParsons, Harvey Norman Holdings and Twenty-First Century Fox Inc. are trading higher by 2.5 to 3 percent.

CSL, Crown, Regis Resources, Downer EDI, Mineral Resources, Macquarie Group, Alumina (AWC) and Tatts Group are up 2 to 2.4 percent. Iluka Resources, Asciano, Amcor and Leighton Holdings are also trading sharply higher.

On the economic front, new home sales in Australia rose for the fourth month in a row, with a 1.6 percent improvement in May, taking monthly sales to their highest level in a year and a half, the Housing Industry Association said on Wednesday.

In the currency market, the Australian dollar opened higher against the U.S. dollar, after plunging to a three-year low overnight. In early trades, the local unit was quoting at US$0.9084, up 0.3 percent from Wednesday's close of US$0.9062.

On Wall Street, stocks moved mostly higher on Wednesday, after showing a lack of direction for much of the abbreviated session.

While the S&P 500 inched up 1.3 points or 0.1 percent to 1,615.4, the Dow rose 56.1 points or 0.4 percent to 14,988.5 and the Nasdaq climbed 10.3 points or 0.3 percent to 3,443.7.

Major European markets ended notably lower on Wednesday. While the German DAX index declined by 1 percent, the French CAC 40 index and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 index dropped by 1.1 percent and 1.2 percent, respectively.

U.S. crude oil surged ahead of the $101-mark to end at a 13-month high on Wednesday, after an Energy Information Administration weekly oil report showed crude stockpiles to have plunged more than expected for the week ended June 28. Oil prices found an added impetus with the Egypt imbroglio gathering strength, with rising concerns over supply disruption from the Middle East region as major oil shipping routes cut across the area of conflict.

Crude for August delivery ended up $1.64 or 1.6 percent to close at $101.24 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, after hitting a high of $102.18 a barrel intraday.