Australian Market Slightly Higher

(RTTNews) - The Australian market is trading slightly higher on Thursday, extending the gains in the previous two sessions, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is moving to near the 9,000 mark, with strong gains in technology stocks partially offset by weakness in gold miners, energy and financial stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 4.70 points or 0.05 percent to 8,983.40, after touching a high of 9,017.20 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 13.30 points or 0.15 percent to 9,194.40. Australian stocks ended slightly higher on Wednesday.

Among major miners, Rio Tinto is down more than 1 percent and BHP Group is losing almost 1 percent, while Mineral Resources is gaining more than 1 percent. Fortescue is flat.

Oil stocks are mostly lower. Beach energy is losing almost 1 percent, while Santos and Woodside Energy are edging down 0.1 to 0.4 percent each. Origin Energy is gaining more than 1 percent.

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block is gaining almost 3 percent. Zip and Appen are surging almost 6 percent each, while WiseTech Global and Xero are jumping almost 8 percent each.

Among the big four banks, Westpac and National Australia Bank are losing almost 1 percent each, while ANZ Banking is edging down 0.2 percent. Commonwealth Bank is edging up 0.3 percent.

Among gold miners, Northern Star Resources and Resolute Mining are down more than 1 percent each, while Newmont is slipping almost 5 percent, Genesis Minerals is declining almost 2 percent and Evolution Mining is losing more than 2 percent.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.717 on Thursday.

On Wall Street, stocks showed another strong move to the upside during trading on Wednesday following the rally seen over the two previous sessions. With the continued upward move, the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 reached new record closing highs.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq jumped 376.93 points or 1.6 percent to 24,016.02 and the S&P 500 advanced 55.57 points or 0.8 percent to 7,022.95, although the narrower bucked the uptrend and dipped 72.27 points or 0.2 percent to 48,463.72.

The major European markets also showed mixed moves on the day. The French CAC 40 Index slid by 0.6 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index fell by 0.5 percent, although the German DAX Index bucked the downtrend and inched up by 0.1 percent.

Crude oil prices edged higher on Wednesday as traders weighed the prospects of success in the upcoming U.S-Iran talks against the ongoing U.S. blockade on all Iranian ports across the Strait of Hormuz, which is keeping the supply concerns alive. West Texas Intermediate crude for May was up $0.36 or 0.39 percent at $91.64 per barrel.