Australian Market Modestly Higher

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is trading modestly higher on Thursday, recouping some of the losses in the previous three sessions, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is moving above the 7,800 level, with gains in gold miners and technology stocks as some traders picked up stocks at a bargain after the recent slump in the markets.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 22.10 points or 0.28 percent to 7,808.30, after touching a high of 7,816.30 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 24.50 points or 0.31 percent to 8,027.10. Australian stocks ended sharply lower on Wednesday.

Among major miners, Rio Tinto and Fortescue Metals are edging down 0.2 to 0.4 percent each, while BHP Group is losing almost 1 percent. Mineral Resources is gaining 2.5 percent.

Oil stocks are mixed. Santos is edging down 0.3 percent and Origin Energy is losing almost 1 percent, while Beach energy and Woodside Energy are edging up 0.1 to 0.5 percent each. In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block is gaining almost 1 percent, Appen is advancing more than 4 percent, Zip is up more than 1 percent, Xero is adding almost 2 percent and WiseTech Global is rising almost 2 percent.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank, National Australia Bank and ANZ Banking are edging up 0.3 percent each, while Westpac is losing almost 1 percent. Among gold miners, Newmont and Northern Star Resources are gaining almost 1 percent each, while Resolute Mining is up almost 2 percent, Gold Road Resources is adding more than 1 percent and Evolution Mining is advancing more than 3 percent each.

In corporate news, shares in Silk Logistics are plunging almost 22 percent after the competition watchdog raised concerns over stevedore DP World's takeover bid.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.633 on Thursday.

On Wall Street, stocks moved mostly higher over the course of the trading day on Wednesday after seeing considerable volatility early in the session. With the upward move, the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 regained ground after ending Tuesday's trading at their lowest closing levels in six months.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq led the way higher, jumping 212.35 points or 1.2 percent to 17,648.45. The S&P 500 also climbed 27.23 points or 0.5 percent to 5,599.30, although the narrower Dow bucked the uptrend and dipped 82.55 points or 0.2 percent to 41,350.93.

Meanwhile, the major European markets moved to the upside on the day. While the German DAX Index surged by 1.6 percent, the French CAC 40 Index and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index climbed by 0.6 percent and 0.5 percent, respectively.

Crude oil prices moved higher on Wednesday after data showed a smaller than expected increase in U.S. crude oil inventories last week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April closed higher by $1.43 or 2.16 percent at $67.68 a barrel.