Australian Market Notably Higher

(RTTNews) - Adding to the gains in the previous session, the Australian stock market is notably higher on Tuesday, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is moving above the 7,800 level, with gains in iron ore miners and technology stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 40.30 points or 0.52 percent to 7,829.40, after touching a high of 7,835.10 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 40.70 points or 0.51 percent to 8,085.60. Australian stocks closed modestly higher on Monday.

Among the major miners, Rio Tinto is gaining more than 3 percent, BHP Group is advancing more than 2 percent, Mineral Resources is up more than 1 percent and Fortescue Metals is adding almost 2 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly lower. Santos is losing almost 1 percent and Origin Energy is edging down 0.1 percent, while Woodside Energy is up almost 1 percent. Beach energy is flat.

Among tech stocks, WiseTech Global is gaining almost 1 percent, Zip is adding more than 3 percent, Afterpay owner Block is advancing almost 2 percent, Xero is edging up 0.3 percent and Appen is surging more than 7 percent.

Gold miners are mostly lower. Evolution Mining is losing almost 1 percent, Newmont is down more than 1 percent and Resolute Mining is declining more than 2 percent, while Gold Road Resources is gaining more than 3 percent and Northern Star resources is edging up 0.1 percent.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank, National Australia Bank, ANZ Banking and Westpac are edging up 0.1 to 0.4 percent each.

In other news, shares in Ansell are surging more than 6 percent following the medical glove maker's $400 million underwritten placement at $22.45 a share or at a 6 percent discount to finance the purchase of a unit of US giant Kimberly-Clark Corp.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.661 on Tuesday.

On Wall Street, stocks turned in a relatively lackluster performance during trading on Monday following the substantial volatility seen over the final two sessions of the previous week. The major averages spent the day bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line before eventually closing narrowly mixed.

While the Nasdaq crept up 5.44 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 16,253.96, the Dow edged down 11.24 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 38,892.80 and the S&P 500 slipped 1.95 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 5,202.39.

Meanwhile, the major European markets moved to the upside on the day. While German DAX Index advanced by 0.8 percent, the French CAC 40 Index climbed by 0.7 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index rose by 0.4 percent.

Crude oil prices drifted lower on Monday amid slightly easing geopolitical tensions after Israel removed its troops from Southern Gaza. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for May ended down $0.48 or 0.55 percent at $86.43 a barrel.