Australian Market Significantly Higher

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is significantly higher on Monday, reversing the losses in the previous session, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street on Friday. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index is moving a tad above the 8,500.00 level, with gains in gold miners and technology stocks as well as a mixed performance in most other sectors.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 85.20 points or 1.01 percent to 8,501.70, after touching a high of 8,516.90 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 92.90 points or 1.07 percent to 8,779.20. Australian stocks closed sharply lower on Friday.

Among the major miners, BHP Group is edging up 0.3 percent and Rio Tinto is gaining almost 1 percent, while Fortescue is edging down 0.1 percent and Mineral Resources is losing almost 2 percent.

BHP Group has abandoned plans for a takeover of UK-listed miner Anglo American, confirming it is no longer considering a deal.

Oil stocks are mixed. Beach energy and Origin Energy are edging up 0.3 to 0.4 percent each, while Santos and Woodside Energy are losing more than 1 percent each. Among tech stocks, Afterpay owner Block is gaining more than 1 percent, Zip is adding 2.5 percent, Appen is up 1.5 percent, WiseTech Global is advancing more than 4 percent and Xero is rising almost 2 percent.

Gold miners are higher. Evolution Mining, Newmont and Northern Star Resources are adding almost 2 percent each, while Resolute Mining is advancing more than 3 percent and Genesis Minerals is gaining more than 2 percent.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank and Westpac are gaining almost 1 percent each, while ANZ Banking is edging up 0.1 percent. National Australia Bank is flat.

In other news, shares in Monash IVF are skyrocketing almost 37 percent after rejected an unsolicited 80 cent per share takeover proposal from a consortium led by Genesis Capital and Soul Patts.

Shares in Qube are soaring more than 19 percent after the logistics business received a $5.20 per share offer from Macquarie Asset Management that valued the company at $11.6 billion.

Shares in Pro Medicus are surging almost 5 percent following the announcement of three significant contract wins in the US, adding a combined minimum value of $29 million.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.645 on Monday.

On Wall Street, stocks showed a lack of direction early in the session on Friday but moved notably higher over the course of the trading day. The major averages all showed strong moves to the upside following the substantial downturn seen during Thursday's session.

The major averages pulled back well off their best levels going into the end of the day but remained firmly positive. The Dow surged 493.15 points or 1.1 percent to 46,245.41, the Nasdaq advanced 195.03 points or 0.9 percent to 22,273.08 and the S&P 500 jumped 64.23 points or 1.0 percent to 6,602.99.

Meanwhile, the major European markets turned in a mixed performance on the day. While the German DAX Index slid by 0.8 percent, the French CAC 40 Index closed just above the unchanged line and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index inched up by 0.1 percent.

Crude oil prices prices slumped Friday on oversupply concerns after Ukraine expressed support for the U.S. peace plan to stop the Russia-Ukraine war. West Texas Intermediate crude for January delivery was down by $0.86 or 1.46 percent at $58.14 per barrel.