Australian Market Modestly Higher

(RTTNews) - The Australian market is trading modestly higher on Thursday, reversing the slight losses in the previous session, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is moving well below the 8,850 level, with gains across most sectors led by mining, energy and technology stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 27.90 points or 0.32 percent to 8,875.20, after hitting a low of 8,847.30 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 27.10 points or 0.30 percent to 8,998.50. Australian stocks ended slightly lower on Wednesday.

Among major miners, BHP Group is edging up 0.2 percent and Mineral Resources is gaining almost 1 percent, while Rio Tinto and Fortescue are edging down 0.4 percent each.

Oil stocks are mostly higher. Woodside Energy, Origin Energy and Santos are gaining more than 1 percent each, while Beach energy is advancing more than 2 percent.

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block is edging up 0.4 percent, Zip is advancing more than 4 percent and Appen is surging almost 8 percent, while Xero and WiseTech Global are edging down 0.1 to 0.4 percent each.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank, Westpac and ANZ Banking are gaining more than 1 percent each, while National Australia Bank is advancing almost 2 percent.

Among gold miners, Evolution Mining and Genesis Minerals are gaining more than 1 percent each, while Resolute Mining is advancing more than 3 percent and Newmont is edging up 0.4 percent. Northern Star Resources is edging down 0.4 percent.

In other news, shares in Mesoblast Are surging more than 13 percent following the release of strong activity report for the first fiscal quarter, with strong revenue growth.

Shares in Champion Iron are tumbling almost 16 percent on reporting downbeat second-quarter and half-yearly financial results, which revealed a sharply widened net loss.

In economic news, Australia's export prices increased 1.4 percent on quarter in the third quarter of 2026, following a 1.1 percent rise in the previous quarter, marking the fourth consecutive quarterly increase. It was the fastest increase since the fourth quarter of 2025. Annually, export prices rose 6.3 percent in the third quarter.

Meanwhile, Australia's import prices fell 1.1 percent on quarter in the third quarter of 2026, reversing a 5.7 percent increase in the second quarter and missing market expectations for a 1.3 percent rise. The decline was the first since the third quarter of 2025.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.705 on Thursday.

On Wall Street, stocks turned in a relatively lackluster performance during trading on Wednesday after moving notably higher over the two previous sessions. The major averages spent much of the day lingering near the unchanged line.

The major averages eventually closed modestly higher. The Dow edged up 97.53 points or 0.2 percent at 52,475.10, the S&P 500 rose 21.38 points or 0.3 percent to 7,743.98 and the Nasdaq climbed 72.04 points or 0.3 percent to 26,549.85.

The major European markets also moved to the upside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index ended the day nearly unchanged, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index inched up by 0.1 percent and the German DAX Index climbed by 0.4 percent.

Crude oil prices surged on Wednesday as reports suggest possible U.S. attacks on Iran by next week, fueling supply disruption concerns for an indefinite period. West Texas Intermediate crude for December was up $3.12 or 3.12 percent at $103.02 per barrel.