Australian Market Notably Higher

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is trading notably higher on Friday, extending the gains in the previous session, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is moving above the 8,850 level, with gains in financial stocks and a mixed performance across most other sectors.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 42.40 points or 0.48 percent to 8,868.90, after touching a high of 8,880.70 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 42.50 points or 0.47 percent to 9,133.90. Australian stocks closed significantly higher on Thursday.

Among major miners, BHP Group is losing more than 1 percent and Rio Tinto is edging down 0.5 percent, while Fortescue and Mineral Resources are edging up 0.2 percent each.

Oil stocks are mostly lower. Santos is losing almost 1 percent, while Origin Energy and Woodside Energy are edging down 0.1 to 0.3 percent each. Beach energy is gaining almost 1 percent.

Among tech stocks, Afterpay-owner Block is losing almost 1 percent and WiseTech Global is declining more than 2 percent, while Zip are advancing more than 4 percent, Appen is adding almost 2 percent and Xero is gaining almost 1 percent.

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

Gold miners are mostly higher. Evolution Mining is losing almost 1 percent, Gold Road Resources is edging down 0.2 percent and Resolute Mining is declining more than 1 percent, while Northern Star Resources is gaining almost 1 percent and Newmont is edging up 0.4 percent.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.653 on Friday.

On Wall Street, stocks moved notably higher over the course of the trading day on Thursday, with the major averages all showing strong moves to the upside after showing a lack of direction early in the session. With the upward move, the S&P 500 ended the day at a new record closing high.

The major averages finished the day just off their highs of the session. The Nasdaq jumped 209.97 points or 1.0 percent to 21,707.69, the S&P 500 advanced 53.82 points or 0.8 percent to 6,502.08 and the Dow climbed 350.06 points or 0.8 percent to 45,621.29.

The major European markets also moved to the upside on the day. The German DAX Index climbed by 0.7 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index rose by 0.4 percent, although the French CAC 40 Index bucked the uptrend and dipped by 0.3 percent.

Crude oil prices slumped on Thursday on rising oversupply concerns as OPEC plans to hike output. West Texas Intermediate crude for October delivery was down $0.63 or 0.98 percent at $63.34 per barrel.