Australian Market Significantly Higher

(RTTNews) - The Australian market is significantly higher on Thursday, adding to the gains in the previous session, following the mostly positive cues from global markets overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is moving above the 7,800 level, with gains across most sectors led by materials and technology stocks amid spiking commodity prices.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 78.10 points or 1.01 percent to 7,818.00, after touching a high of 7,826.60 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 79.00 points or 0.99 percent to 8,065.10. Australian stocks ended modestly higher on Wednesday.

Among major miners, Rio Tinto, Mineral Resources and BHP Group are gaining almost 2 percent each, while Fortescue Metals is adding more than 2 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly higher. Woodside Energy is gaining almost 1 percent, Origin Energy is edging up 0.4 percent, Beach energy is adding 2.5 percent and Santos is advancing more than 4 percent on reports Saudi Aramco and Abu Dhabi National Oil Co have been separately studying potential bids for Santos.

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block and Xero are edging down 0.3 percent each, while Appen is adding more than 2 percent, Zip is surging almost 7 percent and WiseTech Global is gaining almost 1 percent.

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

Among gold miners, Evolution Mining and Newmont are gaining more than 3 percent each, while Gold Road Resources and Northern Star Resources are advancing more than 1 percent each. Resolute Mining is adding more than 2 percent.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.672 on Thursday.

On Wall Street, stocks saw further upside over the course of the trading session on Wednesday after moving mostly higher to start the week. With the continued upward move, the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 once again reached new record closing highs in an abbreviated trading session.

The Nasdaq advanced 159.54 points or 0.9 percent to 18,188.30 and the S&P 500 climbed 28.01 points or 0.5 percent, although the narrower Dow bucked the uptrend and edged down 23.85 points or 0.1 percent to 39,308.00.

Meanwhile, the major European markets also moved to the upside on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index climbed by 0.6 percent, the German DAX Index and the French CAC 40 Index both shot up by 1.2 percent.

Crude oil prices climbed higher on Wednesday after data showed a much larger than expected drop in U.S. crude inventories last week, while a weaker dollar also lent support. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for August ended up by $1.07 at $83.88 a barrel.