Australian Market Sharply Higher

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is sharply higher on Thursday, extending the gains in the previous four sessions, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is moving well above the 7,300 level, with gains across most sectors led by mining and technology stocks.

The market is upbeat after the US Fed left interest rates unchanged and the accompanying statement signaled interest rate cuts next year.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 111.40 points or 1.54 percent to 7,369.20, after touching a high of 7,375.00 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 117.60 points or 1.57 percent to 7,586.70. Australian stocks ended modestly higher on Wednesday.

Among major miners, BHP Group and Rio Tinto are gaining more than 1 percent each, while Fortescue Metals is adding 1.5 percent and Mineral Resources is surging more than 7 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly higher. Santos is gaining more than 1 percent and Origin Energy is adding almost 1 percent, while Woodside Energy and Beach energy are edging up 0.5 percent each.

In the tech space, WiseTech Global is gaining 3.5 percent, Appen is adding almost 2 percent, Afterpay owner Block is losing almost 1 percent, Xero is advancing almost 3 percent and Zip is soaring almost 9 percent.

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

Among gold miners, Resolute Mining is advancing almost 5 percent, Northern Star Resources is surging more than 7 percent, Gold Road Resources is soaring almost 8 percent, Evolution Mining is gaining 4.5 percent and Newmont is adding more than 5 percent.

In other news, shares in Genesis Minerals are jumping more than 11 percent after striking a deal to buy the Bruno-Lewis and Raeside gold projects from Kin Mining.

In economic news, Australia gained 61,500 jobs in November, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Friday, for a total of 14,257.00. That blew away expectations for an increase of 11,000 jobs following the addition of 55,000 jobs in October. The participation rate improved to 67.2 percent, beating expectations for 66.9 percent and up from 67.0 percent in October.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.670 on Thursday.

On Wall Street, stocks turned in a lackluster performance throughout much of the trading session on Wednesday before skyrocketing in reaction to the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement. With the late-day rally, the Dow soared to a record closing high, while the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 reached their best closing levels in almost two years.

The Dow saw further upside going into the close, spiking 512.30 points or 1.4 percent on the day to 37,090.24. The Nasdaq shot up 200.57 points or 1.4 percent to 14,733.96 and the S&P 500 jumped 63.39 points or 1.4 percent to 4,707.09.

Meanwhile, the major European markets finished the day narrowly mixed. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index inched up by 0.1 percent, the German DAX Index and the French CAC 40 Index both dipped by 0.2 percent.

Crude oil prices climbed higher on Wednesday after data showed a bigger than expected drop in U.S. crude inventories last week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for January ended higher by $0.86 or 1.3 percent at $69.47 a barrel.