Australian Market Notably Higher

(RTTNews) - Australian shares are trading notably higher on Wednesday, reversing the slight losses in the previous session, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 moving well above the 8,900 level, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight, with gains in financial, energy and mining stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 74.70 points or 0.84 percent to 8,942.10, after touching a high of 8,943.70 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 66.00 points or 0.72 percent to 9,205.90. Australian stocks ended slightly lower on Tuesday.

Among major miners, BHP Group and Fortescue are gaining more than 1 percent each, while Rio Tinto is adding almost 1 percent. Mineral Resources is losing almost 2 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly higher. Santos is edging up 0.1 percent, while Woodside Energy and Origin Energy are gaining almost 1 percent each. Beach energy is losing almost 2 percent.

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block is gaining almost 1 percent, Zip is advancing almost 3 percent and WiseTech Global is edging up 0.2 percent, while Xero is losing almost 1 percent and Appen is declining 3.5 percent.

Among the big four banks, Westpac and National Australia bank are gaining more than 2 percent each, while ANZ Banking is adding almost 1 percent and Commonwealth Bank is surging almost 8 percent after reporting record cash earnings for the first-half. Among gold miners, Evolution Mining is advancing more than 4 percent, Newmont is gaining more than 2 percent and Genesis Minerals is edging up 0.1 percent, while Resolute Mining is declining almost 2 percent and Northern Star Resources is losing almost 1 percent.

In other news, shares in CSL are tumbling more than 7 percent after the biotech giant announced the departure of its chief executive officer and a 7 percent decline in its first-half earnings.

Shares in Aussie Broadband are jumping more than 12 percent amid a deal to acquire AGL Energy's telecommunications business and customer assets, which will see the company issue $115 million in stock to AGL.

Shares in James Hardie Industries are also jumping more than 12 percent after the construction materials supplier reported upbeat results for the third quarter.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.709 on Wednesday.

On the Wall Street, stocks showed a lack of direction during trading on Tuesday. While the Dow reached a new record intraday high in early trading, the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 spent the day bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line.

The major averages eventually ended the day mixed. The Dow inched up 52.27 points or 0.1 percent to 50,188.13, but the S&P 500 fell 23.01 points or 0.3 percent to 6,941.81 and the Nasdaq slid 136.20 points or 0.6 percent to 23,102.47.

The major European markets also turned in a mixed performance on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index inched up by 0.1 percent, the German DAX Index edged down by 0.1 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index fell by 0.3 percent.

Crude oil prices ticked lower on Tuesday ahead of the U.S. jobs data. West Texas Intermediate crude for March delivery was down $0.12 of 0.19 percent to $64.24 per barrel.