Australian Market Notably Higher

(RTTNews) - The Australian market is trading notably higher on Thursday, following the gains in the previous session, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is moving above the 8,950 level to record all-time highs, with gains across most sectors led by mining and energy stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 46.00 points or 0.52 percent to 8,964.00, after touching a record all-time high of 8,973.70 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 46.00 points or 0.50 percent to 9,223.40. Australian stocks ended modestly higher on Wednesday.

Among major miners, Rio Tinto is gaining almost 1 percent, Mineral Resources is advancing more than 2 percent, Fortescue is adding more than 1 percent and BHP Group is edging up 0.1 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly higher. Beach energy is gaining almost 1 percent, Woodside Energy is edging up 0.2 percent and Santos is adding more than 1 percent. Origin Energy is flat.

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block is edging up 0.1 percent and Appen is gaining more than 1 percent, while Zip is losing almost 1 percent and WiseTech Global is edging down 0.2 percent. Xero is flat.

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

Among gold miners, Northern Star Resources is adding more than 1 percent and Resolute Mining is advancing almost 4 percent, while Newmont and Evolution Mining are gaining almost 2 percent each. Gold Road Resources is edging down 0.2 percent.

In other news, shares in Super Retail are jumping almost 14 percent after it posted record annual sales of $4.1 billion, up 4.5 percent.

In economic news, the manufacturing sector in Australia continued to expand in August, and at a faster rate, the latest survey from S&P Global revealed on Thursday with a manufacturing PMI score of 52.9. That's up from 51.3 in July and it moves further above the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction. The survey also showed that the services PMI improved to 55.1 in August from 54.1 in July. Also, the composite PMI climbed to 54.9 from 53.8 a month earlier.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.643 on Thursday.

On Wall Street, stocks regained ground over the course of the trading day on Wednesday after moving sharply higher early in the session. The major averages climbed well off their worst levels of the day, although the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 remained in negative territory.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq ended the day down 142.10 points or 0.7 percent at 21,172.86 after plunging by as much as 1.9 percent in early trading. The S&P 500 also dipped 15.59 points or 0.2 percent to 6,395.78, while the Dow inched up 16.04 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 44,938.31.

The major European markets also ended the day mixed. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index shot up 1.1 percent, the French CAC 40 Index edged down 0.1 percent and the German DAX Index slid 0.6 percent.

Crude oil prices moved higher on Wednesday after the Energy Information Administration said crude oil inventories in the U.S. decreased much more than expected last week. West Texas Intermediate crude for September delivery was up $0.79 or 1.3 percent at $63.14 a barrel.