Australian Market Notably Higher

(RTTNews) - Australian shares are trading notably higher on Wednesday, reversing the slight losses in the previous session, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 moving above the 8,550 level, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight, with gains in iron ore miners and energy stocks as well as a mixed performance in all other sectors.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 39.40 points or 0.46 percent to 8,580.50, after touching a high of 8,585.60 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 40.80 points or 0.47 percent to 8,812.80. Australian stocks ended slightly lower on Tuesday.

Among major miners, BHP Group and Mineral Resources are gaining more than 1 percent each, while Fortescue metals is adding more than 2 percent and Rio Tinto is edging up 0.4 percent.

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

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block is gaining more than 1 percent and WiseTech Global is edging up 0.3 percent. Zip is slipping more than 5 percent, while Appen and Xero are losing more than 1 percent each.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank and ANZ Banking are edging up 0.1 to 0.3 percent each, while National Australia bank and Westpac are edging down 0.2 to 0.5 percent each.

Among gold miners, Evolution Mining is edging up 0.5 percent, while Resolute Mining is losing more than 2 percent, Northern Star Resources is declining more than 1 percent and Newmont is edging down 0.1 percent. Gold Road Resources is flat.

In other news, shares in Virgin Qantas Airways are slipping almost 4 percent after Australia's flag carrier confirmed a significant cyber attack at one of its contact centres impacting more than 6 million customers, believed to be part of a co-ordinated attack on airlines globally.

Shares in Helia are plunging more than 20 percent after revealing long-term customer ING Bank was negotiating deals with alternative providers. Commonwealth Bank, another long-term partner, will pull out of its lenders' mortgage services contract in December.

Shares in Domino's Pizza are tumbling more than 20 percent on news that chief executive Mark van Dyck will step down in December, after just one year in the role.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.658 on Wednesday.

On the Wall Street, stocks turned in a mixed performance during trading on Tuesday after trending higher over the past several sessions. While the Dow showed a notable advance to reach its best closing level in over four months, the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 gave back ground.

The Dow jumped 400.17 points or 0.9 percent to 44,494.94, but the S&P 500 edged down 6.94 points or 0.1 percent to 6,198.01 and the Nasdaq slid 166.84 points or 0.8 percent to 20,202.89.

The major European markets also ended the day mixed. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index rose 0.3 percent, the French CAC 40 Index closed just below the unchanged line and the German DAX Index slumped by 1.0 percent.

Crude oil prices rose modestly on Tuesday as attention shifts to the OPEC cartel's supposed plans to increase output even as the Middle East remains uneventful. West Texas Intermediate crude for August delivery traded at $65.40 per barrel, up $0.29 or 0.45 percent.