Australian Market Modestly Higher

(RTTNews) - The Australian market is trading modestly higher on Thursday, snapping a three-session losing streak, following the positive cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is moving well above the 8,950 level, with gains across most sectors led by iron ore miners, Energy and technology stocks partially offset by weakness in gold miners and financial stocks. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 34.00 points or 0.38 percent to 8,981.60, after touching a high of 8,997.30 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 40.80 points or 0.44 percent to 9,285.60. Australian stocks ended slightly lower on Wednesday.

Among major miners, Rio Tinto and Fortescue edging up 0.4 to 0.5 percent each, while BHP Group and Mineral Resources are gaining almost 2 percent each.

Oil stocks are mostly higher. Beach energy is gaining more than 1 percent, while Woodside Energy and Santos are edging up 0.1 to 0.3 percent each. Origin Energy is flat.

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block is advancing almost 3 percent, Appen is adding almost 1 percent, Xero is up 1.5 percent and WiseTech Global is gaining almost 2 percent, while Zip is edging down 0.3 percent.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank and Westpac are edging down 0.1 to 0.4 percent each, while National Australia Bank is losing almost 1 percent. ANZ Banking is gaining almost 1 percent.

Among gold miners, Evolution Mining, Resolute Mining and Newmont are losing almost 1 percent each, while Northern Star Resources is down more than 1 percent.

In other news, shares in Strickland Metals are skyrocketing almost 30 percent after the miner reported promising exploration results from its Rogozna Gold & Base Metals Project.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.659 on Thursday.

On Wall Street, stocks moved back to the upside during trading on Wednesday following the pullback seen in the previous session. The Nasdaq and the S&P 500 more than offset yesterday's losses, reaching new record closing highs.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq led the way higher, jumping 255.02 points or 1.1 percent to 23,043.38, while the S&P 500 climbed 39.13 points or 0.6 percent to 6,753.72. The narrower Dow ended the day little changed, edging down 1.20 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 46,601.78.

The major European markets all also moved to the upside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index jumped by 1.1 percent, the German DAX Index advanced by 0.9 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index climbed by 0.7 percent.

Crude oil prices surged on Wednesday, extending gains from the past two sessions after OPEC said it would affect only a modest hike in production next month. West Texas Intermediate crude for November delivery was up $0.89 or 1.44 percent at $62.62 per barrel.