Australian Market Modestly Higher

(RTTNews) - The Australian market is trading modestly higher on Thursday, extending the slight gains in the previous session, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is moving above the 8,200 level, with gains across most sectors led by mining, energy and technology stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 31.10 points or 0.38 percent to 8,218.50, after touching a high of 8,236.20 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 33.90 points or 0.40 percent to 8,490.70. Australian stocks ended slightly higher on Wednesday.

Among major miners, and Fortescue Metals is adding almost 2 percent and Mineral Resources is advancing almost 3 percent, while BHP Group and Rio Tinto are gaining almost 1 percent each.

Oil stocks are mostly higher. Beach energy is gaining almost 2 percent, Woodside Energy is adding almost 1 percent and Santos is edging up 0.5 percent, while Origin Energy is edging down 0.4 percent.

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block and Xero are edging up 0.4 to 0.5 percent each, while Appen is surging more than 7 percent and Zip is advancing 3.5 percent. WiseTech Global is edging down 0.1 percent.

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

Among gold miners, Evolution Mining and Gold Road Resources are edging up 0.1 to 0.3 percent each, while Resolute Mining is gaining 2.5 percent and Northern Star Resources is up almost 1 percent. Newmont is losing almost 1 percent.

In other news, shares in Arcadium Lithium are skyrocketing 31 percent after Rio Tinto agreed to buy it in a $9.9 billion deal.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.672 on Thursday.

On Wall Street, stocks started off on a somewhat flat note on Wednesday, but gained in strength as the day progressed, as investors assessed the minutes of the Federal Reserve's most recent policy meeting, and looked ahead to the nation's consumer price and producer price inflation data for more clarity on interest-rate trajectory.

The major averages all closed on a buoyant note, with the Dow and S&P 500 moving on to fresh record highs. The Dow ended with a gain of 431.63 points or 1.03 percent at 42,512.00, the S&P 500 closed up 40.91 points or 0.71 percent at 5,792.04 and the Nasdaq settled higher by 108.70 points or 0.6 percent to 18,291.62.

The major European markets also ended the day higher on the day. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 ended higher by 0.65 percent, Germany's DAX gained 0.99 percent and France's CAC 40 ended 0.52 percent up.

Crude oil prices fell Wednesday after data showed a big jump in crude inventories which outweighed possible supply disruptions due to Hurricane Milton and Middle East tensions. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for November fell $0.33 or 0.45 percent at $73.24 a barrel.