Australian Market Modestly Higher

(RTTNews) - Reversing the losses the previous session, the Australian stock market is modestly higher on Friday, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is moving well above the 8,000 mark, with gains across most sectors led by energy and technology stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 26.60 points or 0.33 percent to 8,071.70, after touching a high of 8,085.00 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 30.40 points or 0.37 percent to 8,294.00. Australian markets ended modestly lower on Thursday.

Among major miners, BHP Group is edging up 0.1 percent and Rio Tinto is gaining almost 1 percent, while Fortescue Metals is edging down 0.3 percent and Mineral Resources is declining more than 1 percent. Oil stocks are mostly higher. Origin Energy and Beach energy are gaining almost 1 percent each, while Woodside Energy is adding almost 2 percent and Santos is up more than 1 percent.

Among tech stocks, Afterpay owner Block is gaining more than 3 percent and Zip is adding almost 2 percent, while Xero and WiseTech Global are up almost 1 percent each. Appen is sliding almost 6 percent after it its group operating revenue declined 18.4 percent in the half year due to the termination of a contract by Google.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank is gaining almost 1 percent, while National Australia Bank, ANZ Banking and Westpac are edging up 0.1 to 0.3 percent each. Gold miners are mostly higher. Evolution Mining is gaining almost 1 percent, Northern Star Resources is adding more than 1 percent, Newmont is advancing almost 3 percent and Gold Road Resources is edging up 0.1 percent. Resolute Mining is sliding almost 4 percent.

In other news, shares in Ramsay Health Care shares are slipping almost 8 percent after the private hospital operator said patient growth will slow this year as it warned that cost inflation was hurting margin recovery.

Shares in Downer EDI are skyrocketing almost 17 percent after it swung to an annual profit.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.680 on Friday.

On Wall Street, stocks turned in a strong performance throughout much of the trading day on Thursday but gave back ground in the latter part of the session. The major averages pulled back well off their highs of the session, with the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 slipping into negative territory.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq dipped 39.69 points or 0.2 percent to 17,516.43 and the S&P 500 edged down 0.22 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 5,591.96, while the Dow managed to remain in positive territory, climbing 243.63 points or 0.6 percent to a new record closing high of 41,335.05.

Meanwhile, the major European markets moved to the upside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index advanced by 0.8 percent, the German DAX Index climbed by 0.7 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index rose by 0.4 percent.

Crude oil prices settled sharply higher on Thursday on supply concerns amid reports Libya has shut off production and halted exports at several ports. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for October climbed $1.39 or 1.87 percent at $75.91 a barrel.