Australian Market Modestly Higher

(RTTNews) - The Australian market is trading modestly higher on Thursday, extending the sharp gains in the previous session, despite the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is moving up to near the 9,050 level, boosted by strong corporate earnings. Strong gains in mining and financial stocks were partially offset by weakness in technology stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 34.80 points or 0.39 percent to 9,049.60, after touching a high of 9,062.30 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 17.10 points or 0.18 percent to 9,298.90. Australian stocks ended sharply higher on Wednesday.

Among major miners, BHP Group is advancing almost 4 percent and Rio Tinto is gaining more than 3 percent, while Fortescue and Mineral Resources are adding almost 3 percent each.

Oil stocks are mixed. Santos is losing almost 1 percent and Beach energy is declining more than 3 percent, while Origin Energy is surging more than 5 percent and Woodside Energy is gaining more than 2 percent.

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block is tumbling almost 6 percent, Xero is slipping almost 7 percent, WiseTech Global is losing more than 3 percent and Appen is plunging almost 13 percent, while Zip is gaining more than 1 percent.

Among the big four banks, Westpac and National Australia Bank are surging almost 5 percent each, while ANZ Banking is jumping more than 8 percent and Commonwealth Bank is soaring almost 10 percent on better-than-expected results.

Among gold miners, Resolute Mining is adding almost 2 percent, Evolution Mining is surging more than 5 percent, Northern Star Resources is gaining almost 4 percent, Genesis Minerals is up 1.5 percent and Newmont is advancing more than 3 percent.

In other news, shares in AMP are tumbling almost 26 percent as after the 11.3 percent drop in full-year net profit amid the "settlement of legacy legal matters and business simplification".

Shares in Temple & Webster are also plunging more than 26 percent as the online homewares and furniture retailer suffered a 36 percent slump in net profit after tax in the six months ended December 31.

Shares in Pro Medicus are diving more than 16 percent after the health imaging technology company reported first-half revenues that missed estimates amid higher operational costs.. CEO Sam Hupert also spoke in an accompanying interview about the threat of AI on the company's business.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.713 on Thursday.

On Wall Street, stocks quickly gave back ground in early trading on Wednesday after failing to sustain an initial move to the upside and showed a lack of direction over the remainder of the session. The major averages spent the day bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line before eventually closing modestly lower.

The Dow slipped 66.74 points or 0.1 percent to 50,1212.40, the Nasdaq dipped 36.01 points or 0.2 percent to 23,066.47 and the S&P 500 edged down 0.34 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 6,941.47.

Meanwhile, the major European markets turned in a mixed performance on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index jumped by 1.1 percent, the French CAC 40 Index dipped by 0.2 percent and the German DAX Index fell by 0.5 percent.

Crude oil prices climbed on Wednesday amid heightening tension between the U.S. and Iran, with Israel's intervention exacerbating the standoff. West Texas Intermediate crude for March delivery was up $0.57 or 0.89 percent at $64.53 per barrel.