Australian Markets Modestly Higher

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is modestly higher on Tuesday, extending the slight gains in the previous session, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index is moving up to near the 8,750 level, with gains in mining and technology stocks partially offset by weakness in energy and financial stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 13.50 points or 0.15 percent to 8,745.40, after touching a high of 8,780.80 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 19.10 points or 0.21 percent to 8,938.20. Australian stocks closed slightly higher on Monday.

Among the major miners, Rio Tinto and BHP Group are edging up 0.3 to 0.4 percent each, while Mineral Resources is gaining almost 2 percent and Fortescue is adding almost 1 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly lower. Beach energy, Woodside Energy and Santos are losing more than 1 percent each, while Origin Energy is declining more than 3 percent.

Among tech stocks, Afterpay owner Block and Zip are gaining almost 2 percent each, while Xero and WiseTech Global are advancing more than 4 percent each. Appen is surging almost 7 percent.

Gold miners are mostly higher. Evolution Mining is gaining almost 1 percent and Newmont is edging up 0.4 percent, while Northern Star Resources and Genesis Minerals are adding more than 1 percent each. Resolute Mining is losing more than 1 percent.

Among the big four banks, ANZ Banking, National Australia Bank, Commonwealth Bank and Westpac are edging down 0.3 to 0.5 percent each.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.711 on Tuesday.

On Wall Street, stocks moved firmly on Monday, supported by lower Treasury yields and easing concerns about inflation due to a sharp drop in oil prices. The major averages opened solidly higher and continued to track higher as the day progressed, ending at session highs.

The Dow climbed 366.19 points or 0.71 percent to finish at 52,048.83, while the NASDAQ soared 599.55 points or 2.26 percent to close at a record high of 27,122.09 and the S&P 500 gained 114.20 points or 1.49 percent to end at 7,764.70.

The major European markets also closed notably higher on Monday, rebounding strongly from previous session's losses on easing inflation concerns. The FTSE in London was up 79.88 points or 0.75 percent to 10,739.01, while the DAX in Germany jumped 270.95 points or 1.07 percent to 25,575.01 and the CAC 40 in France gained 73.92 points or 0.92 percent to 8,138.94.

Crude oil prices fell sharply on Monday amid hopes the diplomatic efforts by U.S. and Iran will help de-escalate tensions in the Middle East. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for October dropped to $95.70 a barrel, losing more than 4.5 percent.