Australian Market Modestly Higher

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is trading modestly higher on Tuesday, reversing the losses in the previous session, despite the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is staying above the 8,550 level, with gains in mining, financial and energy partially offset by weakness in technology stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 15.30 points or 0.18 percent to 8,580.50, after touching a high of 8,602.50 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 10.90 points or 0.12 percent to 8,877.30. Australian stocks closed notably lower on Monday.

Among the major miners, BHP Group and Rio Tinto are gaining more than 1 percent each, while Fortescue is adding almost 1 percent. Mineral Resources is edging down 0.2 percent. Oil stocks are mostly higher. Woodside Energy and Santos are adding more than 1 percent each, while Beach energy is gaining almost 2 percent. Origin Energy is flat.

Among tech stocks, Afterpay owner Block is losing more than 2 percent, Zip is tumbling almost 9 percent, Appen is down almost 1 percent, Xero is edging down 0.4 percent and WiseTech Global is declining more than 2 percent.

Gold miners are mostly higher. Evolution Mining and Newmont are edging up 0.2 to 0.5 percent each, while Genesis Minerals and Resolute Mining are gaining more than 1 percent each. Northern Star resources is adding almost 1 percent.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank and National Australia Bank are edging up 0.1 to 0.2 percent each, while ANZ Banking is gaining almost 1 percent. Westpac is edging down 0.1 percent.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.654 on Tuesday.

On Wall Street, stocks staged a recovery attempt in mid-day trading on Monday after coming under pressure early in the session, but moved back to the downside as the day progressed. The major averages all finished the session firmly in negative territory.

The Dow slumped 427.09 points or 0.9 percent to 47,289.33, the Nasdaq fell 89.76 points or 0.4 percent to 23,275.92 and the S&P 500 slid 36.46 points or 0.5 percent to 6,812.63.

The major European markets all also moved to the downside on the day. While the German DAX Index slumped by 1.0 percent, the French CAC 40 Index fell by 0.3 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index dipped by 0.2 percent.

Crude oil prices surged on Monday as the U.S. dollar came under pressure amid rate cut expectations. West Texas Intermediate crude for January delivery was up $0.75 or 1.28 percent at $59.30 per barrel.