Australian Market Modestly Higher

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is modestly higher on Wednesday, extending the gains in the previous two sessions, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 moving to nearly the 7,000 mark, despite the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight, with gain across most sectors, led by materials and energy stocks amid firmer commodity prices.

Traders are also digesting the Reserve Bank of Australia modest interest rate hike, while cautiously awaiting the US Federal Reserve policy decision later in the day.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 13.80 points or 0.20 percent to 6,990.70, after touching a high of 7,011.70 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 11.40 points or 0.16 percent to 7,181.00. Australian stocks ended sharply higher on Tuesday.

Among major miners, OZ Minerals is gaining almost 2 percent, Rio Tinto is adding more than 1 percent, BHP Group is advancing almost 2 percent and Fortescue Metals is up almost 1 percent. Mineral Resources is flat.

Oil stocks are higher. Beach energy is gaining more than 2 percent, Woodside Energy is adding almost 3 percent, Santos is up more than 1 percent and Origin Energy is advancing almost 1 percent.

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block is losing more than 2 percent and WiseTech Global is slipping almost 2 percent, while Zip and Xero are declining more than 3 percent each. Appen is edging up 0.4 percent.

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

Among gold miners, Resolute Mining adding 1.5 percent, Newcrest Mining is edging up 0.2 percent and Northern Star Resources is gaining more than 1 percent, while Evolution Mining is losing almost 1 percent. Gold Road Resources is flat.

In economic news, the total number of building permits issued in Australia was down a seasonally adjusted 5.8 percent on month in September, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Wednesday, coming in at 16,455. That exceeded expectations for a decline of 7.0 percent following the 28.1 percent surge in August. On a yearly basis, approvals were down 13.0 percent.

In other news, shares in Lake Resources are surging 8 percent after the lithium miner completed the onsite construction of a modular processing demonstration plant for its Kachi lithium project in Argentina.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.639 on Wednesday.

On Wall Street, stocks fell into the red after a positive start on Tuesday, and then stayed weak right till the end of the day's trading session to close on a negative note.

Investors digested the latest batch of earnings updates and economic data, and looked ahead to the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement, due on Wednesday.

The major averages all fell after opening higher and ended in negative territory. The Dow ended down 79.75 points or 0.24 percent at 32,653.20, the S&P 500 settled at 3,856.10, down 15.88 points or 0.41 percent and the Nasdaq ended down 97.30 points or 0.89 percent at 10,890.85.

The major European markets moved higher on the day. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 climbed 1.29 percent, Germany's DAX gained 0.64 percent, and France's CAC 40 surged 0.98 percent.

Crude oil prices climbed higher on Tuesday on a weak dollar, a reduction in OPEC crude output, an upward revision in oil demand forecast by OPEC, and record U.S. oil export data. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December jumped $1.84 or 2.1 percent at $88.37 a barrel.