Australian Market Modestly Higher

(RTTNews) - The Australian market is trading modestly higher on Thursday, reversing the slight losses in the previous session, despite the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is moving above the 8,400 level, with gains in energy, financial and technology stocks partially offset by a mixed performance in mining stocks. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 24.90 points or 0.30 percent to 8,421.80, after touching a high of 8,427.30 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 23.80 points or 0.28 percent to 8,648.70. Australian stocks ended slightly lower on Wednesday.

Among major miners, BHP Group and Rio Tinto are edging down 0.3 percent each, while Mineral Resources and Fortescue Metals are edging up 0.3 to 0.5 percent each.

Oil stocks are mostly higher. Santos is adding almost 1 percent, while Origin Energy and Woodside Energy are gaining more than 1 percent each. Beach energy is flat.

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block, Appen and Zip are gaining almost 2 percent each, while WiseTech Global is up almost 1 percent. Xero is flat.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank, ANZ Banking, Westpac and National Australia Bank are all edging up 0.1 to 0.5 percent each.

Among gold miners, Northern Star Resources and Newmont are losing more than 1 percent each, while Resolute Mining is declining more than 4 percent. Evolution Mining and Gold Road Resources are edging up 0.1 to 0.5 percent each.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.642 on Thursday.

On Wall Street, stocks moved to the downside in the latter part of the trading day on Wednesday after showing a lack of direction throughout much of the session. The major averages all moved lower late in the day partly offsetting the strong gains posted in the previous session.

The Dow declined 244.95 points or 0.6 percent to 42,098.70, the Nasdaq fell 98.23 points or 0.5 percent to 19,100.94 and the S&P 500 slid 32.99 points or 0.6 percent to 5,888.55.

The major European markets all also moved to the downside on the day. While the German DAX Index slid 0.8 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index fell by 0.6 percent and the French CAC 40 Index decreased by 0.5 percent.

Crude oil prices moved sharply higher on Wednesday on news that OPEC will establish output quotas for 2027. West Texas Intermediate crude for July delivery climbed $0.87 or 1.43 percent to $61.76 per barrel.