Australian Market Notably Higher

(RTTNews) - Australian shares are trading notably higher on Wednesday, reversing the losses in the previous session, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 moving above the 8,200 level, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight, with gains in technology and financial stocks partially offset by weakness in mining and energy stocks amid tumbling commodity prices. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 46.50 points or 0.57 percent to 8,223.40, after touching a high of 8,223.40 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 48.30 points or 0.57 percent to 8,492.00. Australian stocks ended notably lower on Tuesday.

Among major miners, BHP Group, Rio Tinto and Fortescue Metals are losing more than 1 percent each, while Mineral Resources is sliding more than 7 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly lower. Woodside Energy and Beach energy are losing almost 2 percent each, while Santos is down more than 1 percent. Origin Energy is gaining more than 1 percent. In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block is gaining more than 4 percent, Zip is surging almost 7 percent and Appen is advancing more than 2 percent, while WiseTech Global and Xero are adding more than 1 percent each.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank, National Australia Bank, ANZ Banking and Westpac are all gaining almost 1 percent each.

Among gold miners, Evolution Mining is edging down 0.2 percent, while Gold Road Resources and Newmont are gaining more than 1 percent each. Northern Star Resources and Resolute Mining are flat

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.674 on Wednesday.

On the Wall Street, stocks moved higher on Tuesday, with technology stocks turning in a strong performance. Pushing geopolitical concerns and interest-rate uncertainty aside, investors picked up stocks, choosing to focus on the earnings season.

The major averages all ended on a firm note. The Dow ended the day with a gain of 126.13 points or 0.3 percent at 42,080.37, the S&P 500 settled at 5,751.13, gaining 55.19 points or 0.97 percent and the Nasdaq ended higher by 259.01 points or 1.45 percent at 18,182.92.

Meanwhile, the major European markets moved to the downside on the day. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 closed down 1.36 percent, Germany's DAX ended lower by 0.2 percent and France's CAC 40 settled 0.72 percent lower.

Crude oil prices tumbled Tuesday as supply disruptions concerns eased a bit on reports Israel is unlikely to attack Iranian oil facilities. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for November sank $3.57 or 4.63 percent at $73.57 a barrel.