Australian Market Modestly Higher

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is modestly higher on Friday, extending the gains in the previous three sessions, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 staying below the 7,300 level, following the broadly positive cues from European markets overnight, as traders remain optimistic the US Fed will scale down the pace of its interest rate increases. Technology and financial stocks are leading the gains.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 18.00 points or 0.25 percent to 7,259.80, after touching a high of 7,262.50 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 17.70 points or 0.24 percent to 7,449.90. Australian markets ended slightly higher on Thursday.

Among major miners, BHP Group is losing more than 1 percent, Fortescue Metals is edging down 0.5 percent, Rio Tinto is slipping almost 1 percent, Mineral Resources is declining almost 4 percent and OZ Minerals is edging down 0.2 percent.

Oil stocks are mixed. Santos and Beach energy are losing almost 1 percent each, while Woodside Energy is adding more than 1 percent and Origin Energy is edging up 0.5 percent.

Among tech stocks, WiseTech Global and Zip are gaining almost 1 percent each, while Xero is up more than 1 percent, Afterpay owner Block is edging up 0.2 percent and Appen is advancing more than 3 percent.

Among the big four banks, National Australia Bank, Commonwealth Bank, ANZ Banking and Westpac are also edging up 0.4 to 0.5 percent each. Gold miners are mostly lower. Northern Star Resources and Newcrest Mining are edging down 0.2 to 0.5 percent each, while Evolution Mining is losing almost 1 percent. Gold Road Resources is edging up 0.3 percent and Resolute Mining is gaining almost 3 percent.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.675 on Friday.

On Wall Street, the markets were off on Monday for the Thanksgiving Day holiday and will return to action on Friday.

Meanwhile, the major European markets moved to the upside on the day. Germany's DAX climbed 0.78 percent and France's CAC 40 gained 0.42 percent, while the U.K.'s FTSE 100 edged up 0.02 percent.