Australian stock market is higher on Friday, extending gains of the previous two sessions, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 moving above the 6,800 level, buoyed by gains in financial and mining stocks. The cues overnight from Wall Street was also positive on upbeat labor market data. The market is heading for the biggest weekly gain in a month.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 26.60 points or 0.39 percent to 6,817.20, after touching a high of 6,835.00 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 29.40 points or 0.42 percent to 7,052.00. Australian markets ended a choppy session slightly higher on Thursday.
The major miners are weak. Fortescue Metals is up almost 2 percent, BHP Group is edging up 0.2 percent and Rio Tinto is gaining more than 1 percent.
Oil stocks are higher despite crude oil prices tumbling overnight. Woodside Petroleum, Oil Search and Santos are adding more than 1 percent each.
Among tech stocks, Afterpay is losing more than 1 percent, while WiseTech Global and Appen are up nearly 1 percent each.
Among the big four banks, Westpac, ANZ Banking and National Australia Bank are adding almost 1 percent each, while Commonwealth Bank is flat.
Gold miners are mixed after gold closed lower. Evolution Mining is edging down 0.5 percent, while Northern Star Resources is gaining more than 2 percent and Newcrest Mining is edging down 0.2 percent.
Shares in AMP are gaining almost 3 percent after the beleaguered financial firm reiterated that Francesco De Ferrari will remain as chief executive despite an AFR report claiming that he was set to resign by the end of Thursday.
TPG Telecom founder David Teoh resigned as chairman of the firm, effective immediately, after a more than three decade association with the company. Shares tumbled almost 8 percent.
Shares in Lynas are up more than 4 percent after the rare earths miner reported a better-than-expected financial result and were optimistic that the rare earths market is finally ready for prime time.
In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.759 on Friday.
On Wall Street, stocks showed a significant turnaround over the course of the trading day on Thursday. The major averages all bounced well off their lows of the session and into positive territory.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq showed a substantial recovery, ending the day up 15.79 points or 0.1 percent at 12,977.68 after tumbling by as much as 1.4 percent. The Dow also climbed 199.42 points or 0.6 percent to 32,619.48 and the S&P 500 rose 20.38 points or 0.5 percent to 3,909.52.
Meanwhile, the major European markets ended the day mixed. While the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index fell by 0.6 percent, the French CAC 40 Index and the German DAX Index both inched up by 0.1 percent.
Crude oil prices pulled back sharply on Thursday, weighed down by worries about the outlook for energy demand due to the extension of lockdown measures in several countries. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for May ended lower by $2.62 or 4.3% at $58.56 a barrel.
Market Analysis
Australian Market Extends Gains Into Third Day
2021-03-26 01:11:57
