Australian Market Significantly Higher

(RTTNews) - Australian shares are trading significantly higher on Wednesday, extending the gains in the previous two sessions, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 moving well above the 9,000 mark, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight, with gains across most sectors led by mining and technology stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 90.70 points or 1.01 percent to 9,038.50, after touching a high of 9,045.90 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 91.50 points or 1.00 percent to 9,203.50. Australian stocks ended notably higher on Tuesday.

Among major miners, BHP Group is gaining more than 1 percent, Fortescue is adding almost 2 percent, Mineral Resources is surging almost 5 percent and Rio Tinto is advancing more than 4 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly higher. Origin Energy and Woodside Energy are edging up 0.3 percent each, while Beach energy is gaining more than 1 percent. Santos is edging down 0.4 percent.

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block, WiseTech Global and Zip are gaining more than 3 percent each, while Xero is surging almost 5 percent and Appen is skyrocketing more than 20 percent.

Among the big four banks, ANZ Banking, Commonwealth Bank and National Australia bank are gaining almost 1 percent each, while Westpac is edging up 0.3 percent.

Among gold miners, Resolute Mining, Evolution Mining and Northern Star Resources are gaining more than 2 percent each, while Genesis Minerals is losing more than 1 percent and Newmont is edging down 0.2 percent.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.697 on Wednesday.

On the Wall Street, continued to experience choppy trading during Tuesday's session, following the lackluster performance seen in the previous session. While the Dow showed a strong move to the upside, the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 spent much of the day lingering near the unchanged line after recovering from early weakness.

The Dow closed higher for the third straight session, jumping 537.24 points or 1 percent to 52,747.32. The S&P 500 also rose 15.60 points or 0.2 percent to 7,428.78, but the tech-heavy Nasdaq dipped 55.17 points or 0.2 percent to 24,876.91. Meanwhile, the major European markets have all moved to the upside on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index advanced by 0.8 percent, the French CAC 40 Index climbed by 0.6 percent and the German DAX Index rose by 0.4 percent.

Crude oil prices plunged again on Tuesday amid rising optimism over a resolution to the U.S.-Iran conflict, easing supply disruption concerns. West Texas Intermediate crude for September delivery shed $3.61 or 4.37 percent at $79.00 per barrel.