Australian Markets Modestly Higher

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is modestly higher on Tuesday, extending the gains in the previous two sessions, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index is moving well above the 9,000 mark, with gains in technology and financial stocks partially offset by weakness in energy stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 14.90 points or 0.17 percent to 9,034.20, after touching a high of 9,045.50 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 20.40 points or 0.22 percent to 9,198.80. Australian stocks closed notably higher on Monday.

Among the major miners, Rio Tinto is edging down 0.2 percent and BHP Group is losing almost 2 percent, while Mineral Resources is gaining more than 2 percent and Fortescue is edging up 0.2 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly lower. Beach energy and Origin Energy are losing almost 1 percent each, while Santos and Woodside Energy are edging down 0.3 to 0.5 percent each.

Among tech stocks, Afterpay owner Block is edging up 0.3 percent, WiseTech Global is up more than 1 percent, Zip is adding almost 3 percent, Xero is advancing more than 3 percent and Appen is surging more than 4 percent.

Gold miners are mostly higher. Evolution Mining, Genesis Minerals and Northern Star Resources are edging up 0.1 to 0.3 percent each, while Newmont is adding more than 1 percent. Resolute Mining is losing almost 1 percent.

Among the big four banks, ANZ Banking and National Australia Bank are gaining more than 1 percent each, while Commonwealth Bank and Westpac are adding almost 1 percent each..

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.700 on Tuesday.

On Wall Street, stocks moved sharply higher in early trading on Monday and saw even further upside as the day progressed. The major averages all showed significant advances, extending the strong upward move seen over the two previous sessions.

The major averages ended the day not far off their highs of the session. The Nasdaq surged 540.04 points or 2.1 percent to 25,913.90, the S&P 500 shot up 110.78 points or 1.5 percent to 7,600.50 and the Dow jumped 693.38 points or 1.3 percent to 53,178.41.

Meanwhile, the major European markets showed a mixed performance on the day. The German DAX Index jumped by 1.5 percent and the French CAC 40 Index shot up by 1.2 percent, although the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index bucked the uptrend and edge down by 0.1 percent.

Crude oil prices plummeted on Monday, with supply disruption threats diminishing after U.S. President Donald Trump called off a planned attack on Iran. West Texas Intermediate crude for September delivery was down $4.77 5.63 percent at $79.90 per barrel.