Australian Market Modestly Higher

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is modestly higher on Tuesday, recouping the losses in the previous session, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 staying above the 7,300 level, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight, with gains across most sectors, led by mining and financial stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 17.40 points or 0.24 percent to 7,326.60, after touching a high of 7,342.50 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 17.40 points or 0.23 percent to 7,537.30. Australian stocks closed modestly lower on Monday.

Among the major miners, Rio Tinto, BHP Group and Mineral Resources are edging up 0.3 to 0.4 percent each, while Fortescue Metals is advancing almost 2 percent. Oil stocks are higher. Woodside Energy and Origin Energy are edging up 0.1 percent each, while Santos is gaining almost 1 percent. Beach energy is flat. Among tech stocks, Afterpay owner Block is losing almost 1 percent and Appen is edging down 0.2 percent, while Xero and WiseTech Global are gaining almost 1 percent each. Zip is adding more than 1 percent. Gold miners are mostly lower. Northern Star resources is losing more than 1 percent, Resolute Mining is down almost 1 percent and Evolution Mining is edging down 0.1 percent, while Gold Road Resources is gaining more than 1 percent. Newcrest Mining is flat.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank, ANZ Banking and Westpac are edging up 0.2 to 0.5 percent each, while National Australia Bank is gaining almost 1 percent.

In other news, shares in James Hardie Industries are soaring more than 15 percent after reporting upbeat quarterly results.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.656 on Tuesday.

On the Wall Street, stocks closed on a firm note on Monday, recovering well after recent sharp losses, as investors looked ahead to more earnings updates and data on U.S. consumer and producer price inflation, due later in the week.

The major averages all closed higher. The Dow settled at 35,473.13, gaining 407.51 points or 1.16 percent, the S&P 500 ended with a gain of 40.41 points or 0.9 percent at 4,518.44 and the Nasdaq climbed 85.16 points or 0.61 percent to 13,994.40.

Meanwhile, the major European markets finished the day mixed. While the French CAC 40 Index was up by 0.6 percent, the German DAX Index inched down by 0.1 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index was down by 0.13 percent.

Crude oil futures settled lower on Monday, coming off the four-month highs they touched last week. The dollar's strength ahead of inflation data weighed on oil prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September shed $0.88 or 1.1 percent at $81.94 a barrel.