Australian Market Significantly Higher

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is significantly higher on Tuesday, extending the gains in the previous session, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 moving above the 7,100 level, following the broadly positive cues from global markets overnight, with gains in financial stocks partially offset by weakness in resources and energy stocks.

Traders also now await the release of the minutes from the Reserve Bank of Australia's August policy meeting later in the day. At the meeting, the central bank decided to lift the cash rate target by 50 basis points to 1.85 percent, the highest level since April 2016.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 44.70 points or 0.63 percent to 7,109.00, after touching a high of 7,131.60 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 38.30 points or 0.52 percent to 7,363.20. Australian stocks closed modestly higher on Monday.

Among the major miners, Rio Tinto is losing almost 1 percent, while Mineral Resources and Fortescue Metals are edging down 0.2 to 0.3 percent each. OZ Minerals is up almost 1 percent and BHP Group is gaining more than 3 percent after reporting a jump in full-year profit and raising dividend.

Oil stocks are mostly lower, with Beach energy slipping 4.5 percent, while Woodside Energy and Santos are losing more than 1 percent each. Origin Energy is gaining almost 1 percent.

Among tech stocks, Appen is down almost 1 percent and Zip is slipping more than 5 percent, while WiseTech Global is gaining almost 1 percent and Xero is adding almost 2 percent. Afterpay owner Block is flat.

Gold miners are mostly lower. Newcrest Mining and Evolution Mining are losing more than 1 percent each, while Northern Star Resources is declining almost 2 percent and Gold Road Resources is edging down 0.4 percent. Resolute Mining is flat.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank is gaining more than 1 percent and Westpac is edging up 0.4 percent, while National Australia Bank and ANZ Banking are adding almost 1 percent each.

In other news, shares in Tassal Group are surging more than 5 percent after the salmon producer accepted a sweetened $5.23 per share takeover offer from Canadian aquaculture company Cooke Inc.

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

On Wall Street, stocks recovered and stayed firm to eventually close on a positive note on Monday after spending a couple of hours of the day's session in negative territory. The early weakness was due to weak industrial output, retail sales and fixed-asset investment data out of China. Data showing weak business activity in New York hurt as well. However, stocks rebounded as the day progressed with recent soft inflation data raising speculation that the Fed might slow down the pace of monetary tightening.

The major averages all ended on a firm note. The Dow ended with a gain of 151.39 points or 0.45 percent at 33,912.44, rallying from an early low of 33,582.96. The S&P 500 settled with a gain of 16.99 points or 0.4 percent at 4,297.14, while the Nasdaq advanced 80.87 points or 0.62 percent at 13,128.05, recovering from a low of 12,993.78.

The major European markets all also moved to the upside on the day. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 edged up 0.11 percent, Germany's DAX advanced 0.15 percent and France's CAC 40 moved up 0.25 percent. Crude oil prices tumbled Monday on worries about energy demand after data showed slower than expected growth of the Chinese economy in July. The lowering of the oil demand forecast for 2022 by OPEC also weighed on prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September dropped $2.68 or 2.9 percent at $89.41 a barrel.