Australian Market Notably Higher

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is trading notably higher on Tuesday, extending the sharp gains in the previous session, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is moving well above the 8,900 level, with gains is mining, energy and technology stocks partially offset by weakness in financial stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 36.30 points or 0.41 percent to 8,906.40, after touching a high of 8,925.60 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 39.10 points or 0.43 percent to 9,170.20. Australian stocks closed sharply higher on Monday.

Among the major miners, BHP Group, Mineral Resources and Rio Tinto are gaining more than 1 percent each, while Fortescue is flat. Oil stocks are mostly higher Santos is gaining almost 1 percent, Woodside Energy is adding more than 1 percent and Beach energy is advancing almost 3 percent, while Origin Energy is edging down 0.4 percent.

Among tech stocks, Afterpay owner Block is losing more than 1 percent. Xero is up more than 1 percent and WiseTech Global is edging up 0.1 percent, while Zip and Appen are surging more than 5 percent each.

Gold miners are mostly higher. Evolution Mining is edging up 0.1 percent, Genesis Minerals is adding more than 2 percent, while Northern Star resources and Newmont are gaining almost 2 percent each. Resolute Mining is losing almost 1 percent.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank is down more than 1 percent, ANZ Banking is losing almost 1 percent, National Australia Bank is edging down 0.3 percent and Westpac is declining almost 2 percent.

In other news, shares in G8 Education are tumbling more than 17 percent after flagging a $350 million non-cash goodwill impairment, scraping final dividend and pausing share buyback amid weaker occupancy and rising costs.

Shares in Treasury Wine Estates are jumping more than 6 percent after it settling a long running dispute in the US with its Californian distributor.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.708 on Tuesday.

On Wall Street, stocks moved mostly higher over the course of the trading day on Monday, extending the strong upward move seen last Friday's session. While the Dow crept up to a new record closing high, the tech-heavy Nasdaq showed a more notable move to the upside.

The major averages all finished the day in positive territory. The Dow crept up 20.20 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 50,135.87, the Nasdaq jumped 207.46 points or 0.9 percent to 23,238.67 and the S&P 500 climbed 32.52 points or 0.5 percent to 6,964.82.

The major European markets also moved to the upside on the day. While the German DAX Index jumped by 1.2 percent, the French CAC 40 Index climbed by 0.6 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index rose by 0.2 percent.

Crude oil prices moved sharply higher on Monday, extending last week's gains. Gold for February delivery surged $99.70 or 2 percent to $5,050.90 an ounce. The continued advance by the price of gold came amid weakness in the value of the U.S. dollar, with the U.S. dollar index sliding 0.7 percent.