Australian Market Significantly Higher

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is trading significantly higher on Tuesday, extending the gains in the previous four sessions, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is moving up to near the 8,300 level, with gains across most sectors led by Technology and energy stocks. Gold stocks were the only weak spot.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 58.90 points or 0.72 percent to 8,292.40, after touching a day's high of 8,314.00 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 68.50 points or 0.81 percent to 8,535.50. Australian stocks closed slightly higher on Monday.

Among the major miners, BHP Group is gaining almost 3 percent, Rio Tinto is adding almost 2 percent, Fortescue Metals is advancing more than 2 percent and Mineral Resources is surging almost 7 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly higher. Origin Energy is gaining more than 1 percent and Woodside Energy is advancing more than 4 percent, while Beach energy is up almost 1 percent and Santos is adding almost 3 percent.

Among tech stocks, Afterpay owner Block is surging more than 7 percent, Zip is soaring more than 10 percent, WiseTech Global is advancing almost 6 percent, Appen is skyrocketing more than 18 percent and Xero is gaining 1.5 percent.

Gold miners are mostly higher. Evolution Mining is sliding more than 6 percent, Gold Road Resources is down almost 1 percent, Northern Star resources is declining 5.5 percent, Newmont is tumbling almost 5 percent and Resolute Mining is losing more than 4 percent.

Among the big four banks, National Australia Bank is adding almost 1 percent and Westpac is gaining more than 1 percent, while ANZ Banking is losing almost 1 percent and Commonwealth Bank is edging down 0.1 percent.

In other news, shares in Life360 are soaring more than 12 percent after the location technology company reported record results for the first quarter driven partly by another increase in its user base.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.636 on Tuesday.

On Wall Street, stocks moved sharply higher during trading on Monday, more than offsetting the modest weakness seen in the previous week. With the strong upward move, the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 reached their best closing levels in over two months.

The major average saw further upside going into the close, reaching new highs for the session. The Nasdaq soared 779.43 points or 4.4 percent to 18,708.34, the S&P 500 spiked 184.28 points or 3.3 percent to 5,844.19 and the Dow surged 1,160.72 points or 2.8 percent to 42,420.10.

The major European markets also moved to the upside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index jumped by 1.4 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index climbed 0.6 percent and the German DAX Index rose by 0.3 percent.

Crude oil prices showed another strong move to the upside on Monday, riding optimism about the outlook for demand after the U.S. and China reached their trade deal. West Texas Intermediate crude for June delivery jumped $0.93 or 1.5 percent to $61.95 a barrel.