Australian Market Notably Higher

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is notably higher on Monday, extending the gains in the previous three sessions, following the mixed cues from Wall Street on Friday. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index is moving up to near the 8,300.00 level, with gains across most sectors led by iron ore miners and energy stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 42.90 points or 0.52 percent to 8,274.10, after touching a high of 8,275.60 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 42.00 points or 0.50 percent to 8,504.60. Australian stocks closed notably higher on Friday.

Among the major miners, BHP Group is gaining almost 2 percent, Fortescue Metals is edging up 0.4 percent, Rio Tinto is adding almost 1 percent and Mineral Resources is advancing almost 3 percent. Oil stocks are mostly higher. Woodside Energy is advancing 1.5 percent, Santos is adding more than 2 percent, Beach energy is rising more than 3 percent and Origin Energy is gaining more than 1 percent.

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

Gold miners are mostly lower. Evolution Mining is losing almost 2 percent, Resolute Mining declining more than 1 percent, Northern Star Resources is edging down 0.5 percent and Newmont is down more than 2 percent, while Gold Road Resources is gaining almost 1 percent.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank and Westpac are gaining almost 1 percent each, while ANZ Banking is adding more than 1 percent. National Australia Bank is losing more than 2 percent.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.642 on Monday.

On Wall Street, stocks showed a lack of direction over the course of the trading session on Friday after failing to sustain an initial move to the upside. The major averages spent much of the day bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line before eventually closing narrowly mixed.

While the Nasdaq crept up 0.78 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 17,928.92, the S&P 500 edged down 4.03 points or 0.1 percent to 5,659.91 and the Dow dipped 119.07 points or 0.3 percent to 41,249.38.

Meanwhile, the major European have all moved to the upside on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index rose by 0.2 percent, the German DAX Index and the French CAC 40 Index both climbed by 0.6 percent.

Crude oil prices moved sharply higher on Friday, extending gains in the previous session amid optimism about a potential U.S.-China trade deal. West Texas Intermediate crude for June delivery crude for June delivery jumped $1.11 or 1.9 percent to $61.02 a barrel.