Australian Market Sharply Higher

(RTTNews) - The Australian market is trading sharply higher on Thursday, reversing the losses in the previous session, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is moving above the 8,950 level, with strong gains in mining and technology stocks partially offset by weakness in energy and financial stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 117.20 points or 1.33 percent to 8,951.70, after touching a high of 8,998.30 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 133.20 points or 1.49 percent to 9,088.10. Australian stocks ended notably lower on Wednesday.

Among major miners, BHP Group is advancing more than 4 percent and Mineral Resources is jumping more than 7 percent, while Fortescue and Rio Tinto are surging almost 5 percent each.

Oil stocks are mostly lower. Beach energy is losing almost 3 percent, Origin Energy is down more than 1 percent and Santos is slipping more than 5 percent. Woodside Energy is sliding more than 6 percent after a capital markets day update revealed that it was targeting more than 500 job cuts.

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block is surging more than 6 percent, Xero is jumping more than 9 percent, WiseTech Global is advancing almost 4 percent, Appen is rising more than 7 percent and Zip is soaring more than 14 percent.

Among the big four banks, ANZ Banking is declining almost 2 percent, Commonwealth Bank is down almost 1 percent, Westpac is edging down 0.4 percent and National Australia Bank is tumbling almost 8 percent on downbeat full-year results.

Among gold miners, Evolution Mining is jumping more than 8 percent, Northern Star Resources is surging more than 6 percent, Resolute Mining is advancing almost 8 percent, Genesis Minerals is gaining more than 11 percent and Newmont is soaring almost 10 percent.

In other news, shares in NextDC are skyrocketing 45 percent after Goodman Group and US-listed Digital Realty Trust launched an aftermarket "share raid" to acquire up to a 9.9% stake in the company at A$9.50 per share.

Shares in Rea Group are soaring more than 9 percent following a strong first-quarter trading update.

Shares in Eagers Automotive are plunging more than 16 percent following disappointing trading update for the third quarter that was impacted by industry-wide headwinds.

In economic news, Australia posted a merchandise trade surplus of A$2.826 billion in September, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Thursday. That beat expectations for a surplus of A$0.940 billion and was up from the A$0.184 billion surplus in August.

Exports rose 2.3 percent on month to A$48.434 billion, slowing from 3.7 percent in the previous month. Exports sank 3.3 percent on month to A$45.609 billion after jumping 6.2 percent a month earlier.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.701 on Thursday.

On Wall Street, major stock indexes all showed significant moves to the upside following the mixed performances seen in the two previous sessions. The Dow showed a particularly strong upward move, reaching a two-month closing high.

The major averages gave back some ground going into the end of the day but remained sharply higher. The Dow surged 1,569.40 points or 3 percent to 53,356.12, the S&P 500 jumped 119.70 points or 1.6 percent to 7,688.62 and the Nasdaq shot up 364.50 points or 1.4 percent to 25,736.51.

The major European markets also moved to the upside on the day. While the German DAX Index shot up b 2.2 percent, the French CAC 40 Index jumped by 2 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index advanced by 1.8 percent.

Crude oil prices tumbled on Wednesday, losing the geopolitical risk premium as a comfortable victory for the Democrat party in the U.S. midterm elections eased concerns of renewed U.S.-Iran escalation. West Texas Intermediate crude for December delivery was down $8.39 or 8.73 percent at $87.70 per barrel.