Australian Market Notably Higher

(RTTNews) - The Australian market is trading notably higher on Thursday, recouping some of the losses in the previous two sessions, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is moving up to near the 8,300 level, with gains across most sectors led by mining stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 46.00 points or 0.56 percent to 8,286.70, after touching a high of 8,300.00 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 50.00 points or 0.59 percent to 8,527.30. Australian stocks ended slightly lower on Wednesday.

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

Oil stocks are mostly higher. Woodside Energy and Origin Energy are gaining almost 1 percent each, while Santos is edging up 0.5 percent. Beach energy is losing almost 1 percent.

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block is gaining almost 2 percent and Xero is up almost 1 percent, while Zip is declining more than 3 percent, WiseTech Global is down 1.5 percent and Appen is losing more than 4 percent.

Among the big four banks, ANZ Banking and Westpac are edging up 0.4 percent each, while National Australia Bank is losing almost 1 percent and Commonwealth Bank is edging down 0.2 percent. Among gold miners, Evolution Mining and Newmont are gaining more than 2 percent each, while Northern Star Resources is advancing almost 2 percent, Resolute Mining is surging more than 6 percent and Gold Road Resources is adding more than 1 percent.

In other news, shares in Eagers Automotive are soaring more than 22 percent after the car dealership group said had outperformed its market despite a 25 per cent slide in profit.

Shares in Ramsay Health Care are jumping almost 15 percent after Australia's largest private hospital operator appointed Goldman Sachs to advise on a potential sale of its 52.8 percent controlling stake in European business Santé, which had been pushed by shareholders.

Shares in IDP Education are diving more than 13 percent after earnings tumbled by 40 percent due to a contraction in the international student market.

Shares in Medibank are soaring almost 9 percent after it reported higher interim net profit and hiked its dividend 8.3 percent.

Shares in Pepper Money are surging more than 10 percent after the non-bank lender grew new home loans by 27 percent in the second half of the calendar year, driving its mortgage book to $10.2 billion.

Shares in Qantas are advancing more than 7 percent after the airline handed down a $1.4 billion interim profit and elected to return money to shareholders via a special dividend rather than increasing its buyback program.

In economic news, the total value of new capital expenditure in Australia was down a seasonally adjusted 0.2 percent on quarter in the fourth quarter of 2024, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Thursday - coming in at A$43.961 billion. That missed forecasts for an increase of 0.6 percent following the 1.1 percent gain in the previous three months. On a yearly basis, capex was up 0.6 percent.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.630 on Thursday.

On Wall Street, stocks showed a strong move to the upside early in the session on Wednesday but gave back ground over the course of the trading day. The major averages pulled back well off their highs of the session, although the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 managed to close in positive territory.

After surging by as much as 1.3 percent, the tech-heavy Nasdaq ended the day up 48.88 points or 0.3 percent to 19,075.26. The S&P 500 eked out a more modest gain, inching up 0.81 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 5,956.06, while the narrower Dow bucked the uptrend and slid 188.04 points or 0.4 percent to 43,433.12.

Meanwhile, the major European markets all moved to the upside on the day. While the German DAX Index shot up by 1.6 percent, the French CAC 40 Index surged by 1.2 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index climbed by 0.7 percent.

Crude oil prices drifted lower on Wednesday amid concerns about the outlook for demand as the Trump administration's tariff policies are expected to slow global economic growth. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April settled lower by $0.31 at $68.62 a barrel.