Australian Market Slightly Higher

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is trading slightly higher on Wednesday, recouping the slight losses in the previous session, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 moving to just below the 7,400 level, despite the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight, aided by gains in energy firms on firmer oil prices and technology stocks. Meanwhile, miners and financial stocks mostly declined.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 3.20 points or 0.04 percent to 7,389.50, after touching a high of 7,396.70 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 6.00 points or 0.07 percent to 7,603.60. Australian stocks ended slightly lower on Tuesday.

Among major miners, BHP Group and Mineral Resources are losing almost 1 percent each, while Rio Tinto and OZ Minerals are edging up 0.4 to 0.5 percent each. Fortescue Metals is edging down 0.2 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly lower. Beach energy and Woodside Energy are losing almost 1 percent each, while Origin Energy is declining 1.5 percent. Santos is edging up 0.5 percent.

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block is gaining almost 4 percent, while WiseTech Global, Xero and Appen are adding more than 1 percent each. Zip is losing almost 3 percent.

Among the big four banks, National Australia Bank and Commonwealth Bank are edging up 0.1 to 0.2 percent each, while ANZ Banking and Westpac are edging down 0.2 to 0.4 percent each.

Among gold miners, Newcrest Mining and Northern Star Resources are losing almost 1 percent each, while Gold Road Resources is losing almost 4 percent. Evolution Mining is edging up 0.5 percent and Resolute Mining is flat.

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

On Wall Street, stocks have moved mostly lower over the course of the trading day on Tuesday after fluctuating early in the session. The major averages have all moved to the downside, with the Dow showing a particularly steep drop.

In recent trading, the Dow and the S&P 500 have fallen to new lows for the session. The Dow is down 389.56 points or 1.1 percent at 33,913.05, the S&P 500 is down 12.01 points or 0.3 percent at 3,987.08 and the Nasdaq is down 35.31 points or 0.3 percent at 11,043.84.

Meanwhile, the major European markets have turned mixed on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index is down by 0.3 percent, the German DAX Index and the French CAC 40 Index are both up by 0.2 percent.

Crude oil futures settled higher on Tuesday on expectations of a jump in demand following better than expected Chinese GDP data. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for February ended higher by $0.32 or 0.4 percent at $80.18 a barrel, the highest settlement since December 30.