Australian Market Significantly Higher

(RTTNews) - Recouping the most of the losses in the previous session, the Australian stock market is significantly higher on Friday, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is moving well above the 7,600 level, with gains across most sectors led by mining and technology stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 81.70 points or 1.08 percent to 7,669.90, after touching a high of 7,674.60 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 82.9 points or 1.06 percent to 7,901.70. Australian markets ended sharply lower on Thursday.

Among major miners, Rio Tinto is edging up 0.5 percent and Mineral Resources is gaining almost 2 percent, while Fortescue Metals and BHP Group are adding more than 1 percent each. Oil stocks are mostly weak. Woodside Energy and Origin Energy are edging down 0.1 percent each, while Santos is edging up 0.5 percent. Beach energy is flat.

Among tech stocks, WiseTech Global is gaining more than 2 percent, Zip is adding almost 1 percent, Afterpay owner Block is advancing almost 3 percent and Xero is up almost 2 percent, while Appen is losing more than 4 percent.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank and National Australia Bank are gaining almost 1 percent each, while ANZ Banking and Westpac are edging up 0.2 to 0.5 percent each. Gold miners are mostly higher. Gold Road Resources and Newmont are adding more than 2 percent each, while Evolution Mining is gaining almost 2 percent and Northern Star Resources is advancing almost 3 percent. Resolute Mining is losing 2.5 percent.

In other news, shares in Pinnacle Investment are soaring more than 9 percent after the asset manager reported affiliates' funds under management topped $100 billion in December.

Shares in Boss Energy and Paladin Energy are surging more than 6 percent after a new uranium price rally, with the spot price nearing 16-year highs.

In economic news, the value of owner-occupied home loans in Australia was down a seasonally adjusted 5.6 percent on month in December, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Friday - coming in at A$16.77 billion. That followed the 0.5 percent increase in November. Overall home loans slipped 4.1 percent on month to A$26.27 billion. On a yearly basis, owner-occupied loans rose 7.4 percent, investment lending surged 20.4 percent and overall lending was up 11.7 percent.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.658 on Friday.

On Wall Street, stocks showed a strong move back to the upside during trading on Thursday following the sell-off seen in the previous session. The major averages fluctuated early in the session but climbed firmly into positive territory as the day progressed.

The major averages finished the session near their best levels of the day. The Dow jumped 369.54 points or 1.0 percent to 38,519.84, the Nasdaq surged 197.63 points or 1.3 percent to 15,361.64 and the S&P 500 shot up 60.54 points or 1.3 percent to 4,906.19.

Meanwhile, the major European markets all moved to the downside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index slumped by 0.9 percent, the German DAX Index fell by 0.3 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index edged down by 0.1 percent.

Crude oil futures settled lower on Thursday with traders following the negotiations of a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war, although a possible pick-up in energy demand helped limit the downside. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March sank $2.03 or 2.7 percent at $73.82 a barrel.