Australian Market Modestly Higher

(RTTNews) - Australian shares are trading modestly higher on Wednesday, extending the gains in the previous session, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 moving well above the 7,900 level, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight, with gains in financial and technology stocks partially offset by weakness in mining and energy stocks. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 27.90 points or 0.35 percent to 7,953.10, after touching a high of 7,978.40 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 27.90 points or 0.34 percent to 8,154.80. Australian stocks ended significantly higher on Tuesday.

Among major miners, BHP Group is losing 1.5 percent, Rio Tinto is declining almost 2 percent, Mineral Resources is edging down 0.3 percent and Fortescue Metals is down almost 1 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly lower. Woodside Energy is losing almost 1 percent, Santos is edging down 0.3 percent and Beach energy is declining almost 2 percent, while Origin Energy is up almost 1 percent.

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block is gaining more than 2 percent, while Appen and WiseTech Global are advancing almost 1 percent each. Xero is edging down 0.3 percent and Zip is declining more than 5 percent.

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

Among gold miners, Evolution Mining and Newmont are losing more than 1 percent each, while Resolute Mining is declining almost 3 percent. Northern Star Resources is adding almost 1 percent and Gold Road Resources is edging up 0.3 percent.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.628 on Wednesday.

On the Wall Street, stocks showed a lack of direction over the remainder of the session after recovering from an early move to the downside and moving mostly higher in morning trading on Tuesday. The major averages spent the day swinging back and forth across the unchanged line.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq eventually ended the day firmly positive, jumping 150.60 points or 0.9 percent to 17,449.89. The S&P 500 also climbed 21.22 points or 0.4 percent to 5,633.07, but the narrower Dow edged down 11.80 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 41,989.96.

Meanwhile, the major European markets moved to the upside on the day. While the German DAX Index surged by 1.7 percent, the French CAC 40 Index jumped by 1.1 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index climbed by 0.6 percent.

Crude oil prices moved to the downside during trading on Tuesday, giving back ground after surging to its highest closing level over a month on Monday. After spiking $2.12 or 3.1 percent to $71.48 a barrel in the previous session, West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for May delivery fell $0.38 or 0.5 percent to $71.10 a barrel.