Australian Market Slightly Higher

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is slightly higher on Friday after being in the red most of the morning session, recouping some of the losses in the previous session, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 staying below the 6,900 level, despite the mostly negative cues from Wall Street overnight, boosted by energy stocks amid a spike in crude oil prices, partially offset by weakness in technology and financial stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 9.50 points or 0.14 percent to 6,867.40, after hitting a low of 6,829.60 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 11.50 points or 0.16 percent to 7,062.10. Australian markets ended sharply lower on Thursday.

Among major miners, BHP Group, OZ Minerals and Rio Tinto are edging up 0.2 to 0.5 percent, while Mineral Resources is gaining almost 4 percent and Fortescue Metals is adding more than 1 percent.

Oil stocks are higher. Origin Energy is gaining almost 2 percent, Beach energy is edging up 0.4 percent, Woodside Energy is adding 2.5 percent and Santos is up more than 1 percent.

Among tech stocks, Appen is losing more than 3 percent and Zip is flat. Xero and WiseTech Global are edging down 0.2 to 0.4 percent each, while Afterpay owner Block is soaring almost 11 percent on better-than-expected results for the third quarter.

Among the big four banks, National Australia Bank is edging down 0.5 percent, Commonwealth Bank is down more than 1 percent and ANZ Banking is losing almost 1 percent, while Westpac is edging up 0.3 percent.

Gold miners are mixed. Evolution Mining and Northern Star Resources are edging up 0.3 percent each, while Resolute Mining, Newcrest Mining and Gold Road Resources are flat.

In economic news, the total value of retail sales in Australia was up a seasonally adjusted 0.6 percent on month in September, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Friday - coming in at A$35.096 billion. That was in line with expectations and unchanged from the August reading. On a yearly basis, retail sales jumped 17.9 percent. For the third quarter of 2022, the value of retail sales rose a seasonally adjusted 0.2 percent on quarter and 10.0 percent on year to A$97.148 billion.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.629 on Friday.

On Wall Street, stocks fell on Thursday, extending losses to a fourth straight session, as slowing growth and rising interest rates dampened investors sentiment. The fourth straight 75-basis point interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve, and comments from the central bank Chair Jerome Powell that signaled more interest rate hikes in the coming months rendered the mood bearish.

The major averages all ended in the red despite seeing a modest recovery from early lows. The Dow ended with a loss of 146.51 points or 0.46 percent at 32,001.25, the S&P 500 settled at 3,719.89, losing 39.80 points or 1.06 percent and the Nasdaq ended with a loss of 181.86 points or 1.73 percent at 10,342.94.

The major European markets too mostly ended weak. Germany's DAX shed 0.95 percent and France's CAC 40 declined 0.54 percent while the U.K.'s FTSE 100 advanced 0.62 percent.

Crude oil prices settled sharply lower Thursday amid concerns about the outlook for energy demand. The dollar's sharp uptick following hawkish comments from the Federal Reserve also weighed on crude oil prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December sank $1.83 or 2 percent at $88.17 a barrel.