Australian Market Extending Gains

The Australian stock market is higher on Tuesday, extending gains from the previous session, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 above the 6,800 level, as a major survey showed that business confidence has rebounded to its highest level in a decade. Weakness among technology stocks were more than offset by gains in financial stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is adding 54.80 points or 0.81 percent to 6,794.40, after rising to a high of 6,805.70 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 44.90 points or 0.64 percent to 7,016.50. Australian stocks closed off their day’s highs on Monday.

Among the major miners, Rio Tinto is adding more than 1 percent, Fortescue Metals is edging up 0.2 percent and BHP Group is edging up 0.3 percent.

Among oil stocks, Oil Search is losing more than 1 percent, Santos is edging down 0.5 percent and Woodside Petroleum is edging down 0.1 percent, while Origin Energy is edging up 0.1 percent.

Among the big four banks, ANZ Banking is advancing almost 3 percent, while Westpac and National Australia Bank are adding more than 2 percent each. Commonwealth Bank is adding more than 1 percent.

Gold miners are down. Newcrest Mining is down almost 2 percent, Evolution Mining is losing more than 2 percent and Northern Star Resources is declining more than 4 percent.

In economic news, Australia’s business confidence index surged to 16 in February from an upwardly revised 12 a month earlier, survey data from National Australia Bank showed Tuesday. That’s the highest reading since early 2010 and well above the long-run average. The business conditions index also climbed to 15 from 9 in January and matching the December reading, which was the highest level since August 2018.

“Business conditions and confidence are both at multi-year highs and, importantly, we’re starting to see an uptrend in business hiring and investment,” said Alan Oster, NAB chief economist.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.764 on Tuesday.

On Wall Street, stocks turned in a starkly mixed performance during trading on Monday, as the Dow jumped to a new record intraday high but the tech-heavy Nasdaq showed a sharp pullback. The S&P 500 spent much of the day in positive territory before closing in the red.

The Dow ended the session well of its best levels of the day but still closed up 306.14 points or 1 percent at 31,802.44. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq plunged 310.99 points or 2.4 percent to 12,609.16, its lowest closing level in almost three months, and the S&P 500 slid 20.59 points or 0.5 percent to 3,821.35.

Meanwhile, the major European markets showed strong moves to the upside on the day. While the German DAX Index spiked by 3.3 percent, the French CAC 40 Index surged up by 2.1 percent and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index jumped by 1.3 percent.

Crude oil shook off early support to finish sharply lower on Monday as profit taking erased early gains that followed reports of an attack on the world’s largest refinery in Saudi Arabia. West Texas Intermediate for April delivery slumped $1.04 to end at $65.05 a barrel.

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