Australian Market Modestly Higher

(RTTNews) - Australian shares are trading modestly higher on Wednesday, recouping the losses in the previous session, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 moving above the 8,950 level, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight, with gains in mining and financial stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 15.40 points or 0.17 percent to 8,951.00, after touching a high of 8,962.90 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 9.00 points or 0.10 percent to 9,216.30. Australian stocks ended modestly lower on Tuesday.

Among major miners, BHP Group is gaining almost 1 percent, Mineral Resources is surging more than 5 percent and Rio Tinto is edging up 0.5 percent, while Fortescue is losing almost 1 percent.

Oil stocks are mixed. Woodside Energy is edging up 0.4 percent and Origin Energy is gaining almost 1 percent, while Beach energy is losing almost 1 percent and Santos is edging down 0.1 percent.

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block and Xero are edging down 0.4 percent each, while Zip is gaining almost 1 percent and Appen is advancing almost 2 percent. WiseTech Global is plunging more than 11 percent after it missed analysts' expectations on revenue and profit growth.

Among the big four banks, Westpac is edging up 0.3 percent, while Commonwealth Bank, ANZ Banking and National Australia bank are gaining almost 1 percent each.

Among gold miners, Evolution Mining is advancing almost 4 percent, Gold Road Resources is edging up 0.3 percent, Resolute Mining is surging more than 7 percent, Northern Star Resources is gaining almost 2 percent and Newmont is adding more than 2 percent.

In other news, shares in Woolworths are diving almost 14 percent after the supermarket giant slashed its final dividend by 21.1 percent and posted a 17 percent fall in net profit for the full year.

Shares in Nine Entertainment, the owner of The Australian Financial Review, are soaring more than 8 percent after saying it would pay a special dividend from the sale of its stake in property listings portal Domain to US real estate giant CoStar.

Shares in Tabcorp are skyrocketing almost 18 percent after the bookmaker swung to a net profit and reported upbeat group revenues for the full year.

Shares in Worley are jumping almost 7 percent after forecasting "moderate" growth this financial year and telling investors it would use AI to improve efficiency.

Shares in Lovisa are soaring more than 14 percent after the fashion jewellery retailer delivered upbeat financial results for the full year.

Shares in Domino's Pizza Enterprises are plunging almost 20 percent after the pizza maker reported downbeat full-year results due to heavy restructuring costs, and cut its final dividend.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.649 on Wednesday.

On the Wall Street, stocks showed a lack of direction throughout much of the trading session on Tuesday but managed to end the day mostly higher. The major averages all moved back to the upside after ending the previous session in negative territory.

The major averages finished the day just off their highs of the session. The Nasdaq advanced 94.98 points or 0.4 percent to 21,544.27, the S&P 500 climbed 26.62 points or 0.4 percent to 6,465.94 and the Dow rose 135.60 points or 0.3 percent at 45,418.07.

Meanwhile, the major European markets moved to the downside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index plunged 1.7 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index slid by 0.6 percent and the German DAX Index fell by 0.5 percent.

Crude oil prices moved sharply lower on Tuesday, reflecting concerns about erratic U.S. trade policies. West Texas Intermediate crude for October delivery tumbled $1.55 or 2.4 percent to $63.25 a barrel.