Australian Market Slightly Higher

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is slightly higher on Monday, extending the gains in the previous session, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 staying below the 7,200 level, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street on Friday, led by gains in resources and energy stocks amid the spike in commodity prices.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 3.80 points or 0.05 percent to 7,161.80, after touching a high of 7,196.50 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 14.00 points or 0.19 percent to 7,364.10. Australian stocks closed sharply higher on Friday.

Among the major miners, Rio Tinto and BHP Group are gaining more than 5 percent each, while Fortescue Metals is soaring more than 9 percent, OZ Minerals is up almost 2 percent and Mineral Resources is adding almost 5 percent.

Oil stocks are higher. Beach energy and Origin Energy are gaining almost 1 percent each, while Woodside Energy is advancing almost 2 percent and Santos is edging up 0.5 percent.

Among tech stocks, Afterpay owner Block is gaining more than 4 percent and Appen is adding more than 3 percent. WiseTech Global and Xero are losing almost 1 percent each, while Zip is declining almost 2 percent.

Gold miners are weak. Newcrest Mining and Evolution Mining are losing more than 1 percent each, while Northern Star Resources is edging down 0.3 percent and Resolute Mining is plunging almost 9 percent. Gold Road Resources is gaining 1.5 percent.

Among the big four banks, National Australia Bank is losing almost 1 percent and ANZ Banking is declining more than 2 percent, while Commonwealth Bank and Westpac are down almost 2 percent each.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.669 on Monday.

On Wall Street, stocks saw further upside during trading on Friday following the remarkable rally seen over the course of Thursday's session. With the extended upward move, the Dow reached a nearly three-month closing high, while the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 jumped to their best closing levels in almost two months.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq surged 209.18 points or 1.9 percent to 11,323.33, the S&P 500 shot up 36.56 points or 0.9 percent to 3,992.93 and the Dow rept up 32.49 points or 0.1 percent to 33,747.86.

Meanwhile, the major European markets turned in a mixed performance on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index slid by 0.8 percent, the German DAX Index and the French CAC 40 Index both climbed by 0.6 percent.

Crude oil prices spiked on Friday, supported by a weak dollar and reports about China cutting quarantine restrictions. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December ended higher by $2.49 or 2.9 percent at $88.96 a barrel.