Australian Market Notably Higher

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is notably higher on Wednesday, recouping the losses in the previous two sessions, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 moving above the 7,300 level, following the broadly positive cues from global markets overnight, with gains across most sectors, led by technology stocks as well as mining and energy stocks amid a spike in commodity prices.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 40.80 points or 0.56 percent to 7,324.60, after touching a high of 7,333.10 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 43.30 points or 0.58 percent to 7,540.00. Australian stocks ended modestly lower on Tuesday.

Among major miners, Rio Tinto and BHP Group are edging up 0.1 to 0.3 percent each, while Mineral Resources is gaining more than 1 percent. Fortescue Metals is losing almost 2 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly higher. Woodside Energy and Santos are gaining more than 1 percent each, while Beach energy is up almost 2 percent and Origin Energy is edging up 0.2 percent.

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block and Xero are gaining more than 1 percent each, while Appen is advancing more than 2 percent, WiseTech Global is adding almost 1 percent and Zip is surging almost 5 percent. Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank is adding more than 1 percent, while Westpac, National Australia Bank and ANZ Banking are gaining almost 2 percent each.

Among gold miners, Evolution Mining and Resolute Mining are adding more than 2 percent each, while Gold Road Resources is advancing almost 2 percent and Newcrest Mining is gaining more than 1 percent. Northern Star Resources is plunging almost 6 percent.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.681 on Wednesday.

On the Wall Street, stocks moved sharply higher over the course of the trading day on Tuesday, extending the strong upward move seen over the past several sessions. With the continued advance, the major averages all reached their best closing levels in over a year.

The major averages finished the session just off their highs of the day. The Dow jumped 366.58 points or 1.1 percent to 34,951.93, the Nasdaq advanced 108.69 points or 0.8 percent to 14,353.64 and the S&P 500 climbed 32.19 points or 0.7 percent to 4,554.98.

The major European markets 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 0.8 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index inched up by 0.1 percent.

Crude oil prices moved higher on Tuesday for the first time in three days as the dollar slipped after soft data. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for August ended higher by $1.60 or 2.2 percent at $75.75 a barrel.