Australian Market Notably Higher

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is notably higher on Friday, recouping some of the losses in the previous three sessions, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 moving above the 7,300 level, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight, with gains in technology, energy and financial stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 27.10 points or 0.37 percent to 7,312.50, after touching a high of 7,314.10 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 26.20 points or 0.35 percent to 7,518.70. Australian markets ended notably lower on Thursday.

Among major miners, BHP Group is losing almost 1 percent, Rio Tinto is declining almost 2 percent and Mineral Resources is down more than 1 percent. Fortescue Metals is edging up 0.5 percent. OZ Minerals is flat.

Oil stocks are higher. Beach energy and Origin Energy are gaining more than 1 percent each, while Santos is edging up 0.4 percent and Woodside Energy is adding almost 1 percent.

Among tech stocks, Afterpay owner Block is surging more than 7 percent, Zip is adding almost 1 percent and Xero is edging up 0.1 percent, while WiseTech Global and Appen are gaining almost 2 percent each. Among the big four banks, ANZ Banking is gaining almost 1 percent and Commonwealth Bank is adding more than 1 percent, while National Australia Bank and Westpac are edging up 0.3 percent each.

Gold miners are mostly lower. Northern Star Resources is losing almost 1 percent, Evolution Mining is declining almost 2 percent and Newcrest Mining is down more than 2 percent, while Gold Road Resources is gaining almost 2 percent. Resolute Mining is flat.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.682 on Friday.

On Wall Street, stocks went on a roller coaster ride during trading on Thursday, with the major averages swinging back and forth across the unchanged line after ending Wednesday's trading narrowly mixed. After seeing initial strength, the major averages turned lower over the course of morning trading before recovering in the afternoon.

The major averages all eventually ended the day in positive territory. The Dow rose 108.82 points or 0.3 percent to 33,153.91, the Nasdaq advanced 83.33 points or 0.7 percent to 11,590.40 and the S&P 500 climbed 21.27 points or 0.5 percent to 4,012.32.

Meanwhile, the major European markets finished the day mixed. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index fell 0.3 percent, the French CAC 40 Index rose by 0.3 percent and the German DAX Index climbed by 0.5 percent.

After trending lower in recent sessions, the price of crude oil showed a strong move back to the upside on Thursday, despite a bigger than expected increase in U.S. crude oil inventories. West Texas Intermediate crude for April delivery spiked $1.44 or 2.0 percent to $75.39 a barrel.