Australian Market Modestly Higher

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is trading modestly higher on Tuesday, extending the gains in the previous session, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is staying below the 7,800 level, with small gains across most sectors led by iron ore miners and energy stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 22.70 points or 0.29 percent to the day's high of 7,771.30. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 22.50 points or 0.28 percent to 7,982.20. Australian stocks closed sharply higher on Monday.

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

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

Among tech stocks, Afterpay owner Block is edging up 0.2 percent and Zip is gaining almost 2 percent, while WiseTech Global is losing more than 1 percent. Appen and Xero are flat.

Gold miners are mostly lower. Evolution Mining and Gold Road Resources are losing almost 1 percent each, while Northern Star resources is declining almost 2 percent. Newmont is edging up 0.5 percent. Resolute Mining is flat.

Among the big four banks, National Australia Bank, ANZ Banking and Westpac are edging down 0.1 to 0.2 percent each, while Commonwealth Bank is edging up 0.3 percent.

In other news, shares in Bellevue Gold are plummeting almost 21 percent after the gold miner secured buyers for a $156.5 million new share placement.

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

On Wall Street, stocks fluctuated over the course of the trading day on Monday but managed to end the day mostly higher after moving sharply higher over the course of last Friday's session. The major averages all finished the day firmly positive, climbing further off the one-year lows hit last Tuesday.

The Dow jumped 312.08 points or 0.8 percent to 40,524.79, the Nasdaq rose 107.03 points or 0.6 percent to 16,831.48 and the S&P 500 climbed 42.61 points or 0.8 percent to 5,405.07.

The major European markets also showed significant moves to the upside on the day. While the German DAX Index spiked by 2.9 percent, the French CAC 40 Index shot up by 2.4 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index jumped by 2.1 percent.

Crude oil prices ticked higher on Monday on concerns that supply may not be able to keep up with demand. West Texas Intermediate for May delivery was up $0.29 or 0.47 percent to $61.82 per barrel.