Australian Market Modestly Higher

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is modestly higher on Monday, recouping some of the losses in the previous three sessions, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 staying above the 7,000 mark, despite the broadly negative cues from Wall Street on Friday, with gains across most sectors, led by mining and energy stocks amid a spike in commodity prices. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 19.80 points or 0.28 percent to 7,062.10, after touching a high of 7,085.20 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 22.30 points or 0.31 percent to 7,266.40. Australian stocks closed sharply lower on Friday.

Among the major miners, BHP Group and Rio Tinto are edging up 0.4 to 0.5 percent each, while Mineral Resources is gaining more than 1 percent and Fortescue Metals is adding almost 1 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly higher. Santos, Beach energy and Woodside Energy are gaining more than 1 percent each, while Origin Energy is edging down 0.2 percent.

Among tech stocks, Xero and WiseTech Global are edging up 0.2 to 0.5 percent each, while Appen is gaining more than 1 percent, Afterpay owner Block is advancing almost 4 percent and Zip is adding almost 1 percent.

Gold miners are mostly higher. Gold Road Resources, Evolution Mining and Northern Star Resources are gaining more than 2 percent each, while Newcrest Mining is adding more than 1 percent. Resolute Mining is flat.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank is edging up 0.4 percent, while Westpac, ANZ Banking and National Australia Bank are gaining almost 1 percent each.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.669 on Monday.

On Wall Street, stocks saw substantial volatility over the course of the trading session on Friday, with the major averages showing wild swings back and forth across the unchanged line following the release of the closely watched monthly jobs report.

The major averages moved to the downside going into the close and ended the day in negative territory. The Dow slid 187.38 points or 0.6 percent to 33,734.88, the Nasdaq edged down 18.37 points or 0.1 percent to 13,660.72 and the S&P 500 dipped 12.64 points or 0.3 percent to 4,398.95.

Meanwhile, the major European markets turned in a mixed performance on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index fell 0.3 percent, the French CAC 40 Index rose by 0.4 percent and the German DAX Index climbed by 0.5 percent.

Crude oil prices rose sharply on Friday, continuing to find support from the recent data showing a big drop in U.S. crude inventories. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for August ended higher by $2.06 or about 2.9 percent at $73.86 a barrel. WTI crude futures gained about 4.6 percent in the week.