Australian Market Sharply Higher

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is sharply higher on Monday, recouping some of the losses in the previous three sessions, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 moving above the 6,600 level, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street on Friday, with strength across most sectors, particularly financials, technology, materials and energy stocks.

Traders also brace for the Reserve Bank of Australia's policy on Tuesday, where the RBA is again expected to deliver another half-point rate increase.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 75.20 points or 1.15 percent to 6,615.10, after touching a high of 6,659.00 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 77.70 points or 1.16 percent to 6,798.10. Australian stocks closed modestly lower on Friday.

Among the major miners, Rio Tinto is adding 1.5 percent and OZ Minerals is advancing more than 3 percent, while Fortescue Metals and Mineral Resources are gaining almost 2 percent each. BHP Group is edging down 0.4 percent.

Oil stocks are higher. Santos is gaining more than 2 percent, Beach energy is adding 1.5 percent and Origin Energy is up more than 2 percent. Woodside Energy is advancing more than 1 percent.

Among tech stocks, Xero is gaining more than 3 percent, Afterpay owner Block is surging more than 6 percent, Zip is adding more than 5 percent, WiseTech Global advancing almost 4 percent and Appen is up almost 2 percent.

Gold miners are strong, Gold Road Resources and Newcrest Mining are adding more than 3 percent each, while Resolute Mining is advancing 4.5 percent, Northern Star Resources is up almost 4 percent and . Evolution Mining is gaining more than 5 percent.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank, ANZ Banking and Westpac are gaining almost 2 percent each, while National Australia Bank is adding more than 2 percent.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.680 on Monday.

On Wall Street, stocks showed wild swings over the course of the trading session on Friday before ending the day sharply higher. With the strong upward move, the major averages regained some ground after moving notably lower over the past few sessions.

The major averages saw further upside in the final hour of trading, reaching new highs for the session. The Dow jumped 321.83 points or 1.1 percent to 31,097.26, the Nasdaq advanced 99.11 points or 0.9 percent to 11,127.85 and the S&P 500 shot up 39.95 points or 1.1 percent to 3,825.33.

Meanwhile, the major European markets turned in a lackluster performance on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index closed just below the unchanged, the French CAC 40 Index inched up by 0.1 and the German DAX Index edged up by 0.2 percent.

Crude oil prices moved higher Friday on concerns about supply outages in Libya and shutdowns in Norway caused by striking workers. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for August ended higher by $2.67 or 2.5 percent at $108.43 a barrel. WTI crude oil futures rose 1 percent in the week.