Australian Market Notably Higher

(RTTNews) - Australian shares are trading notably higher on Wednesday, extending the slight gains in the previous session, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 moving above the 8,700 level, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight, with gains across most sectors led by mining and energy stocks. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 34.70 points or 0.40 percent to 8,711.90, after touching a high of 8,726.50 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 34.00 points or 0.38 percent to 8,975.50. Australian stocks ended slightly higher on Tuesday.

Among major miners, BHP Group is gaining almost 2 percent, Fortescue is adding more than 2 percent, Rio Tinto is advancing almost 3 percent and Mineral Resources is rising more than 4 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly higher. Origin Energy is edging up 0.1 percent, Woodside Energy is gaining more than 2 percent and Beach energy is adding almost 3 percent, while Santos is edging down 0.5 percent.

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block is gaining more than 2 percent, Zip is adding almost 1 percent and Appen is edging up 0.4 percent, while WiseTech Global is edging down 0.4 percent and Xero are losing more than 1 percent.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank and ANZ Banking are edging up 0.2 to 0.5 percent each, while Westpac is gaining more than 1 percent. National Australia bank is edging down 0.2 percent.

Among gold miners, Evolution Mining is advancing more than 3 percent, Resolute Mining is rising almost 2 percent, Northern Star Resources is gaining almost 3 percent, Newmont is adding more than 2 percent and Gold Road Resources is up more than 1 percent.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.656 on Wednesday.

On the Wall Street, stocks regained ground over the course of the trading day on Tuesday after coming under pressure early in the session. The major averages climbed well off their worst levels of the day before eventually ending the session narrowly mixed.

While the tech-heavy Nasdaq fell 81.49 points or 0.4 percent to 20,892.69, the S&P 500 inched up 4.02 points or 0.1 percent to 6,309.62 and the Dow climbed 179.37 points or 0.4 percent to 44,502.44.

The major European markets also ended the day mixed. The German DAX Index slumped by 1.1 percent and the French CAC 40 Index slid by 0.7 percent, although the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index bucked the downtrend and inched up by 0.1 percent.

Crude oil prices moved lower for a third straight session on Tuesday as continuing uncertainty on tariff negotiations between the U.S. and its trading partners has increased demand concerns. West Texas Intermediate crude closed down by $0.99 to settle at $66.21 per barrel.