Australian Market Significantly Higher

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is significantly higher on Friday, adding to the gains in the previous two sessions, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is moving above the 8,300 level, with gains across most sectors led by mining and technology stocks. Energy stocks were the only weak spot.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 86.50 points or 1.05 percent to 8,312.80, after touching a high of 8,319.40 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 90.10 points or 1.06 percent to 8,571.70. Australian markets ended modestly higher on Thursday.

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

Oil stocks are mostly lower. Woodside Energy and Santos are edging down 0.5 percent each, while Beach energy is losing more than 1 percent. Origin Energy is gaining almost 1 percent.

Among tech stocks, Zip is adding almost 4 percent and Appen is surging almost 7 percent, while WiseTech Global and Xero are gaining almost 2 percent each. Afterpay-owner Block is tumbling almost 7 percent after its results missed market expectations.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank and ANZ Banking are gaining almost 1 percent each, while Westpac is adding more than 1 percent. National Australia Bank is edging down 0.3 percent. Gold miners are mostly higher. Evolution Mining is advancing almost 4 percent, Northern Star Resources is adding more than 3 percent, Newmont is up almost 2 percent, Resolute Mining is gaining almost 1 percent and Gold Road Resources is rising more than 2 percent.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.666 on Friday.

On Wall Street, stocks showed another strong move to the upside during trading on Thursday after moving sharply higher over the two previous sessions. With the continued advance, the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 reached new record closing highs.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq led the charge, surging by 285.99 points or 1.5 percent to 19,269.46, while the S&P 500 climbed 44.06 points or 0.7 percent to 5,973.10. The narrower Dow, on the other hand, spent the day lingering near the unchanged line before closing down just 0.59 points at 43,729.34.

Meanwhile, European stocks moved mostly higher on the day. The German DAX Index surged by 1.7 percent and the French CAC 40 Index advanced by 0.8 percent, although the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index bucked the uptrend and declined by 0.3 percent.

Crude oil prices settled notably higher on Thursday as traders weighed the potential impact of Donald Trump's presidency on the geopolitical scene, against the interest rate cut announcement by the Federal Reserve. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December closed up $0.67 or 0.93 percent at $72.36 a barrel.