Australian Market Modestly Higher

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is modestly higher on Thursday, recouping some of the losses in the previous two sessions, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 staying below the 6,800 level, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight, with gains across most sectors, led by technology and materials stocks, partially offset by weakness in energy stocks after crude oil prices tumbled.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 37.80 points or 0.56 percent to 6,767.10, after touching a high of 6,772.80 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 45.90 points or 0.66 percent to 7,005.20. Australian stocks ended sharply lower on Wednesday.

Among major miners, Mineral Resources is gaining almost 3 percent, OZ Minerals is up almost 2 percent, Rio Tinto is adding more than 1 percent, Fortescue Metals is advancing more than 2 percent and BHP Group is edging up 0.4 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly lower. Santos is losing more than 2 percent and Beach energy is declining almost 1 percent, while Origin Energy is edging up 0.5 percent. Woodside Energy is slipping more that 7 percent as it is trading ex-dividend.

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block is gaining 3.5 percent, Xero is adding almost 3 percent, and Zip is advancing more than 4 percent, while WiseTech Global and Appen are up more than 2 percent each.

Among the big four banks, National Australia Bank and Commonwealth Bank are edging down 0.2 to 0.4 percent each, while Westpac is edging up 0.2 percent and ANZ Banking is gaining almost 1 percent.

Among gold miners, Resolute Mining is gaining more than 2 percent, Gold Road Resources is advancing more than 5 percent and Newcrest Mining is adding more than 1 percent, while Northern Star Resources and Evolution Mining are up more than 3 percent each.

In other news, shares in Tyro Payments skyrocket more that 29 percent after it rejected a $1.27 per share takeover bid from private equity group led by Potentia Capital.

Shares in Link Administration Holdings are surging more than 6 percent after the ACCC approved the financial software company's $2.5 billion takeover by Canadian firm Dye & Durham.

In economic news, Australia posted a seasonally adjusted merchandise trade surplus of A$8.733 billion in July, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Thursday. That was well shy of expectations for a surplus of A$14.5 billion and down sharply from the downwardly revised A$17.13 billion surplus in June (originally A$17.67 billion). Exports were down 9.9 percent on month after rising 5.0 percent in the previous month, while imports jumped 5.0 percent on month after gaining just 1.0 percent a month earlier.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.675 on Thursday.

On Wall Street, stocks moved sharply higher over the course of the trading day on Wednesday, regaining ground following the notable downward move seen over the past several sessions. The major averages all showed strong moves to the upside, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq snapping a seven-session losing streak.

The major averages finished the session just off their best levels of the day. The Dow jumped 435.98 points or 1.4 percent to 31,581.28, the Nasdaq soared 246.99 points or 2.1 percent to 11,791.90 and the S&P 500 surged 71.68 points or 1.8 percent to 3,979.87.

Meanwhile, the major European markets turned in a mixed performance on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index slumped 0.9 percent, the French CAC 40 Index closed just above the unchanged line and the German DAX Index rose by 0.4 percent.

Crude oil prices fell sharply on Wednesday on concerns about the outlook for energy demand amid rising fears of a global recession. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for October ended lower by $4.94 or 5.7 percent at $81.94 a barrel, the lowest settlement since January 11.