Australian Market Notably Higher

(RTTNews) - The Australian market is trading notably higher on Thursday, snapping a three-session losing streak, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is moving above the 8,800 level, with gains in mining, financial and technology stocks partially offset by weakness in energy stocks. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 65.10 points or 0.75 percent to 8,803.90, after touching a high of 8,810.00 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 65.60 points or 0.73 percent to 9,075.70. Australian stocks ended sharply lower on Wednesday.

Among major miners, Rio Tinto and Fortescue are gaining more than 2 percent each, while Mineral Resources is advancing more than 3 percent. BHP Group is losing almost 1 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly lower. Beach energy is edging down 0.4 percent, Woodside Energy is declining almost 2 percent and Santos is losing almost 1 percent. Origin Energy is gaining almost 1 percent.

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block is gaining almost 1 percent, Xero is advancing more than 3 percent and WiseTech Global is edging up 0.2 percent, while Appen and Zip are adding almost 2 percent each.

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

Among gold miners, Northern Star Resources, Evolution Mining, Gold Road Resources and Newmont are edging up 0.1 to 0.5 percent each, while Resolute Mining is advancing almost 2 percent.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.655 on Thursday.

On Wall Street, stocks gave back ground after an early advance on Wednesday but moved back to the upside late in the session to end the day mostly higher. The Nasdaq and the S&P 500 regained ground following the pullback seen over the two previous sessions, although the narrower Dow saw further downside.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq jumped 218.10 points or 1.0 percent to 21,497.73 and the S&P 500 climbed 32.72 points or 0.5 percent to 6,448.26. The Dow, on the other hand, posted a modest loss, edging down 24.58 points or 0.1 percent to 45,271.23.

Meanwhile, the major European markets have moved to the upside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index advanced by 0.9 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index climbed by 0.7 percent and the German DAX Index rose by 0.5 percent.

Crude oil prices fell sharply on Wednesday amid increasing concerns of oversupply due to reported plans by OPEC to boost output at its upcoming meeting on Sunday. West Texas Intermediate crude for October delivery was down $1.65 or 2.52 percent at $63.94 per barrel.