Australian Market Notably Higher

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is trading notably higher on Thursday, extending the gains in the previous session, despite the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is moving up to near the 8,750 level, with gains in iron ore miners and financial stocks partially offset by weakness in gold miners, energy and technology stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 51.50 points or 0.59 percent to 8,748.00, after touching a high of 8,787.10 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 46.00 points or 0.52 percent to 8,920.50. Australian stocks ended modestly higher on Wednesday.

Among major miners, BHP Group and Mineral Resources are edging up 0.2 percent each, while Fortescue and Rio Tinto are adding almost 1 percent each.

Oil stocks are mostly lower. Woodside Energy is down more than 1 percent, Beach energy is declining more than 3 percent and Santos is losing more than 2 percent, while Origin Energy is edging up 0.4 percent.

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block is down almost 1 percent, while WiseTech Global, Zip and Xero are edging down 0.2 to 0.4 percent each. Appen is gaining almost 1 percent.

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

Among gold miners, Evolution Mining and Northern Star Resources are losing more than 1 percent each, while Resolute Mining and Genesis Minerals are down more than 2 percent each. Newmont is declining almost 2 percent.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.709 on Thursday.

On Wall Street, stocks turned in a strong performance throughout much of the trading day on Wednesday but came under pressure in the latter part of the session. The major averages pulled back well off their highs of the session and into negative territory.

The Dow led the way lower, slumping 631.21 points or 1.2 percent to a three-month closing low of 51,461.90. The S&P 500 fell 33.92 points or 0.5 percent to 7,551.81, its lowest closing level in well over a month, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq posted a more modest loss, edging down 3.15 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 25,978.42.

Meanwhile, the major European markets also moved to the upside on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index rose by 0.3 percent, the German DAX Index and the French CAC 40 Index increased by 0.5 percent and 0.6 percent, respectively.

Crude oil prices plummeted on Wednesday following the interest rate decision from the Fed. In addition, reports of Saudi Arabia loading crude cargoes via Oman lowered supply-related concerns. West Texas Intermediate crude for October delivery was down $3.61 or 3.41 percent at $102.22 per barrel.