Australian Market Slightly Higher

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is slightly higher on Tuesday, extending the gains in the previous two sessions, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 staying above the 7,000 mark, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight, with gains in mining stocks partially offset by weakness in financial stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 4.10 points or 0.06 percent to 7,024.70, after touching a high of 7,034.30 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 12.50 points or 0.17 percent to 7,272.00. Australian stocks closed slightly higher on Monday.

Among the major miners, Rio Tinto and BHP Group are edging up 0.3 percent each, while Mineral Resources is gaining almost 3 percent, Fortescue Metals is adding more than 1 percent and OZ Minerals is up almost 1 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly higher, with Beach energy and Origin Energy edging up 0.3 percent each, while Woodside Energy is gaining almost 1 percent. Santos is edging down 0.2 percent.

Among tech stocks, Afterpay owner Block is losing more than 3 percent and Appen is down almost 2 percent, while WiseTech Global and Xero are gaining more than 2 percent each. Zip is flat.

Gold miners are mostly higher. Newcrest Mining, Evolution Mining and Northern Star Resources are gaining more than 1 percent each, while Resolute Mining and Gold Road Resources are flat.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank is losing almost 2 percent, National Australia Bank is slipping 3.5 percent, Westpac is down more than 1 percent and ANZ Banking is edging down 0.5 percent.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.698 on Tuesday.

On Wall Street, stocks gave back ground over the course of the trading session on Monday after failing to sustain an early move to the upside. The major averages pulled back off their highs of the session and spent the remainder of the day lingering near the unchanged line.

The major averages eventually ended the session narrowly mixed. While the Dow inched up 29.07 points or 0.1 percent to 32,832.54, the Nasdaq slipped 13.10 points or 0.1 percent to 12,644.46 and the S&P 500 edged down 5.13 points or 0.1 percent to 4,140.06.

Meanwhile, the major European markets all moved to the upside on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index climbed by 0.6 percent, the French CAC 40 Index and the German DAX Index both advanced by 0.8 percent.

Crude oil prices recovered after early losses and settled sharply higher on Monday as data showed a significant increase in oil purchases by China so far this month. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September ended higher by $1.75 or 2 percent at $90.76 a barrel.