Australian Market Notably Higher

(RTTNews) - Recouping some of the losses in the previous two sessions, the Australian stock market is notably higher on Tuesday, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is staying just below the 7,000 mark, with gains across most sectors, led by technology and energy stocks. Miners were also up after a rebound in commodity prices.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 36.80 points or 0.53 percent to 6,985.60, after touching a high of 7,011.20 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 40.10 points or 0.56 percent to 7,185.10. Australian stocks closed modestly lower on Monday.

Among the major miners, BHP Group and Rio Tinto are gaining more than 1 percent each, while Mineral Resources and Fortescue Metals are adding more than 2 percent each.

Oil stocks are mostly higher. Santos and Woodside Energy are gaining more than 2 percent each, while Beach energy is advancing more than 4 percent. Origin Energy is losing more than 2 percent.

Among tech stocks, Afterpay owner Block is adding almost 2 percent and WiseTech Global is gaining almost 1 percent, while Appen and Zip are advancing almost 3 percent each. Xero is losing almost 1 percent.

Gold miners are mostly higher. Northern Star resources, Gold Road Resources and Resolute Mining are gaining almost 1 percent each, while Evolution Mining and Newmont are edging up 0.2 to 0.3 percent each.

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

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.638 on Tuesday.

On Wall Street, stocks turned in a lackluster performance throughout much of the trading session on Monday after recovering from an early move to the downside. The major averages spent most of the afternoon lingering near the unchanged line.

The major averages eventually ended the day narrowly mixed. While the Dow inched up 54.77 points or 0.2 percent to 34,337.87, the Nasdaq dipped 30.36 points or 0.2 percent to 13,767.74 and the S&P 500 edged down 3.69 points or 0.1 percent to 4,411.55.

Meanwhile, the major European markets all moved to the upside on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index advanced by 0.9 percent, the German DAX Index and the French CAC 40 Index climbed by 0.7 percent and 0.6 percent, respectively.

Crude oil prices moved up on Monday, gaining for a third straight session amid some optimism about the outlook for energy demand, as well as a weaker dollar. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December ended higher by $1.09 or 1.4 percent at $78.26 a barrel.