Australian Market Notably Higher

(RTTNews) - Australian shares are trading notably higher on Wednesday, extending the gains in the previous session, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 moving above the 8,500 level, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight, with gains across most sectors led by energy and technology stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 49.60 points or 0.59 percent to 8,516.30, after touching a high of 8,518.90 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 53.70 points or 0.62 percent to 8,744.60. Australian stocks ended notably higher on Tuesday.

Among major miners, BHP Group and Fortescue metals are gaining almost 1 percent each, while Rio Tinto is edging up 0.4 percent and Mineral Resources is adding more than 3 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly higher. Woodside Energy is gaining more than 2 percent, while Beach energy and Santos are adding more than 1 percent each. Origin Energy is edging down 0.2 percent.

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block is gaining more than 3 percent, WiseTech Global is edging up 0.4 percent, Zip is advancing almost 5 percent and Appen is adding almost 4 percent, while Xero is edging down 0.4 percent.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank, National Australia bank and ANZ Banking are edging up 0.2 to 0.3 percent each, while Westpac is gaining almost 1 percent.

Among gold miners, Evolution Mining is losing almost 2 percent, Resolute Mining is declining more than 1 percent and Northern Star Resources is down almost 1 percent, while Gold Road Resources and Newmont are edging up 0.3 to 0.5 percent each.

In other news, shares in PointsBet are jumping more than 10 percent after Japanese entertainment giant Mixi lobbed a higher bid to buy PointsBet and stave off a takeover by Australian bookmaker Betr.

In economic news, the services sector in Australia continued to expand in May, albeit it at a slower pace, the latest survey from S&P Global revealed on Wednesday with a services PMI score of 50.6. That's down from 51.0 in April, although it remains above the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.646 on Wednesday.

On the Wall Street, stocks saw further upside during trading on Tuesday after recovering from early weakness to end Monday's session mostly higher. With the continued upward move, the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 reached their best closing levels in over three months.

The major averages ended the day off their highs of the session but still firmly positive. The Nasdaq advanced 156.34 points or 0.8 percent to 19,398.96, the S&P 500 climbed 34.43 points or 0.6 percent to 5,970.37 and the Dow rose 214.16 points or 0.5 percent to 42,519.64.

The major European markets all also moved to the upside on the day. While the German DAX Index advanced by 0.7 percent, the French CAC 40 Index rose by 0.3 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index edged up by 0.2 percent.

Crude oil prices showed another strong move to the upside during trading on Tuesday amid ongoing concerns about supply due to escalating geopolitical tensions and stuttering U.S.-Iran nuclear talks. West Texas Intermediate crude for July delivery jumped $0.89 or 1.4 percent to $63.41 a barrel.