Australian Market Significantly Higher

(RTTNews) - The Australian market is trading significantly higher on Thursday, extending the gains in the previous two sessions, despite the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is moving above the 8,900 level, with gains is iron ore miners and energy stocks partially offset by weakness in gold miners, financial and technology stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 79.50 points or 0.90 percent to 8,902.50, after touching a high of 8,906.20 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 80.90 points or 0.90 percent to 9,085.80. Australian stocks ended modestly higher on Wednesday.

Among major miners, BHP Group, Rio Tinto and Fortescue are gaining more than 1 percent each, while Mineral Resources is advancing more than 3 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly higher. Woodside Energy and Santos are gaining almost 1 percent each, while Origin Energy is adding almost 2 percent. Beach energy is flat.

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block and Xero are losing more than 2 percent each, while Appen is slipping almost 2 percent, and WiseTech Global is declining more than 3 percent. Zip is gaining more than 1 percent.

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

Among gold miners, Newmont is losing more than 1 percent, Resolute Mining is slipping more than 2 percent and Genesis Minerals is down more than 2 percent, while Northern Star Resources and Evolution Mining are declining almost 3 percent each.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.699 on Thursday.

On Wall Street, stocks showed a lack of direction over the course of the trading day on Wednesday following the strength seen in the previous session. The major averages spent the day bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line before eventually closing in negative territory.

The Nasdaq slid 146.30 points or 0.6 percent to 25,690.90 and the S&P 500 edged down 10.24 points or 0.1 percent to 7,498.96. The narrower Dow spent most of the day in positive territory but closed down 6.06 points or less than a tenth of a percent at 52,218.58.

Meanwhile, the major European markets all moved to the upside on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index jumped by 1.2 percent, the French CAC 40 Index advanced by 0.9 percent and the German DAX Index climbed by 0.6 percent.

Crude oil prices jumped again on Wednesday on supply disruption concerns as the conflict between the U.S. and Iran shows no signs of letting up. West Texas Intermediate crude for September delivery was up $2.62 or 3.11 percent at $86.96 per barrel.