Australian Market Modestly Higher

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is trading modestly higher on Friday, extending the gains in the previous session, despite the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is moving well above the 7,900 level, with gains in energy stocks and performance at most other sectors being mixed.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 14.10 points or 0.18 percent to 7,933.00, after hitting a low of 7,905.10 and a high of 7,940.10 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 12.30 points or 0.15 percent to 8,161.20. Australian stocks closed significantly higher on Thursday.

Among major miners, BHP Group, Rio Tinto and Fortescue Metals are edging up 0.1 to 0.4 percent each, while Mineral Resources is losing almost 1 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly higher. Woodside Energy, Beach energy and Santos are edging up 0.1 to 0.5 percent each, while Origin Energy is up almost 1 percent.

Among tech stocks, Afterpay-owner Block, Appen and WiseTech Global are losing more than 1 percent each, while Zip is gaining almost 1 percent and Xero is edging up 0.4 percent.

Among the big four banks, , Westpac is edging down 0.2 percent, while Commonwealth Bank, National Australia Bank and ANZ Banking are edging up 0.2 to 0.5 percent each. Gold miners are mostly higher. Evolution Mining and Northern Star Resources are edging down 0.1 to 0.2 percent each, while Gold Road Resources is losing more than 1 percent. Resolute Mining is gaining more than 1 percent and Newmont is adding almost 1 percent.

In other news, shares in Paladin Energy are tumbling almost 6 percent after temporarily closing its Langer Heinrich Mine in Namibia, owing to heavy rains impacting access to the site.

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

On Wall Street, stocks showed a lack of direction over the course of the trading session on Thursday after recovering from an initial move to the downside. The major averages swung back and forth across the unchanged line before eventually closing modestly lower.

The Nasdaq fell 59.16 points or 0.3 percent to 17,691.63 and the S&P 500 dipped 12.40 points or 0.2 percent to 5,662.89, while the narrower Dow posted an even more modest loss, edging down 11.31 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 41,953.32.

The major European markets also moved to the downside on the day. While the German DAX Index tumbled 1.2 percent, the French CAC 40 Index slumped by 1.0 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index edged down by 0.1 percent.

Crude oil prices climbed higher on Thursday after the U.S. slapped fresh sanctions on Iran. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April closed higher by $1.10 or about 1.6 percent at $68.26 a barrel on the expiration day.