Australian Market Slightly Higher

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is slightly higher on Thursday, recouping some of the losses in the previous session, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 moving above the 6,600 level, following the positive cues overnight from Wall Street, boosted by a rebound in materials stocks, while traders digested the minutes of the U.S. Federal Reserve's latest monetary policy meeting. All other sectors are trading weak.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 9.90 points or 0.15 percent to 6,604.40, after touching a high of 6,626.80 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 7.00 points or 0.10 percent to 6,791.30. Australian stocks ended modestly lower on Wednesday.

Among major miners, BHP Group is gaining more than 1 percent, Rio Tinto is up more than 3 percent, OZ Minerals is rising almost 2 percent, Mineral Resources is advancing more than 4 percent and Fortescue Metals is adding more than 2 percent.

Oil stocks are lower. Santos is losing 1.5 percent, Woodside Energy is declining more than 1 percent, Beach energy is down almost 2 percent and Origin Energy is slipping almost 1 percent.

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block is losing almost 2 percent, Xero is down almost 1 percent, Appen is edging down 0.5 percent, Zip is slipping more than 4 percent and WiseTech Global is declining more than 1 percent.

Among the big four banks, National Australia Bank is edging down 0.5 percent, while Commonwealth Bank is edging up 0.2 percent and ANZ Banking is edging up 0.5 percent. Westpac is flat.

Among gold miners, Northern Star Resources is edging down 0.5 percent, Gold Road Resources is losing more than 3 percent, Resolute Mining is declining more than 2 percent and Evolution Mining is down more than1 percent, while Newcrest Mining is edging up 0.3 percent and

In other news, shares in Link Administration surged more than 6 percent after the it said it will consider a sweetened A$2.34 billion takeover bid from Canadian cloud-based software firm Dye & Durham.

Shares in Chalice Mining are soaring more than 9 percent after it announced a new nickel-copper-PGE sulphide zone intersected in initial drilling at the Dampier Target.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.678 on Thursday.

On Wall Street, stocks settled modestly higher on Wednesday, gaining in strength in late afternoon trades after the minutes from the Federal Reserve's latest monetary policy meeting showed the central bank was committed to bringing down inflation. Technology stocks had a good outing once again, extending gains from the previous session.

The major averages all ended on the positive side after moving along the flat line for much of the day's session. The Dow settled with a gain of 69.86 points or 0.23 percent at 31,037.68 and the S&P 500 ended higher by 13.69 points or 0.36 percent at 3,845.08, while the Nasdaq closed higher by 39.61 points or 0.35 percent at 11,361.85.

The major European markets all also moved to the upside on the day. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 gained 1.17 percent, Germany's DAX surged 1.56 percent, and France's CAC 40 jumped 2.03 percent.

Crude oil futures settled lower Wednesday amid concerns about outlook for energy demand due to a surge in Covid-19 cases in China and fears over a possible recession, while a strong greenback also weighed. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for August ended lower by $0.97 or 1 percent at $98.53 a barrel.