Australian Market Significantly Higher

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is trading significantly higher on Tuesday, extending the gains in the previous session, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is moving above the 8,700 level, with gains across all sectors led by mining and technology stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 74.10 points or 0.86 percent to 8,737.80, after touching a high of 8,739.70 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 77.90 points or 0.87 percent to 8,999.90. Australian stocks closed slightly higher on Monday.

Among the major miners, BHP Group is gaining almost 1 percent and Mineral Resources is advancing almost 4 percent, while Rio Tinto and Fortescue are adding more than 1 percent each, while is losing more than 1 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly higher. Origin Energy is gaining more than 1 percent, Woodside Energy is adding almost 1 percent and Beach energy is advancing almost 2 percent, while Santos are edging down 0.1 percent.

Among tech stocks, Afterpay owner Block is advancing almost 3 percent, Zip is surging more than 5 percent and WiseTech Global is adding 1.5 percent, while Xero and Appen are gaining more than 1 percent each.

Gold miners are mostly higher. Gold Road Resources is adding almost 1 percent, Newmont is advancing almost 4 percent, Evolution Mining is edging up 0.3 percent and Northern Star resources is gaining more than 3 percent, while Resolute Mining is losing more than 1 percent.

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

In economic news, the services sector in Australia continued to expand in July, and at a faster pace, the latest survey from S&P Global revealed on Tuesday with a services PMI score of 54.1. That's up from 53.8 in June and it moves further above the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.647 on Tuesday.

On Wall Street, stocks moved sharply higher early in the session on Monday and continued to turn in a strong performance throughout the day. With the upward move, the major averages offset a large chunk of the notable pullback seen over the two previous sessions.

The major averages saw further upside going into the close, ending the day just off their highs of the session. The Nasdaq surged 403.45 points or 2.0 percent to 21,053.58, the S&P 500 shot up 91.93 points or 1.5 percent to 6,329.94 and the Dow jumped 585.06 points or 1.3 percent to 44,173.64.

The major European markets all also moved to the upside on the day. While the German DAX Index shot up by 1.4 percent, the French CAC 40 Index jumped by 1.1 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index increased by 0.7 percent.

Crude oil prices continued to decline on Monday thanks to oversupply concerns and fears of a tariff-induced slowdown by the global economy. West Texas Intermediate crude for September delivery was down $1.06 or 1.57 percent at $66.27 per barrel.