The Australian stock market is modestly higher on Tuesday, extending the gains in the previous session, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 staying above the 7,500 level, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight, with gains in technology and gold mining stocks.
Meanwhile, the upside is limited as Australia’s two biggest cities, Sydney and Melbourne, are still under lockdown as it struggles to contain the domestic coronavirus situation, primarily in New South Wales and Victoria.
NSW has reported 1164 new locally acquired cases of COVID-19 and three deaths on Monday. Victoria also recorded 76 new locally acquired cases, with the active cases totalling 841 across Victoria.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 17.90 points or 0.24 percent to 7,522.60, after touching a high of 7,524.20 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 19.20 points or 0.25 percent to 7,807.80. Australian stocks closed slightly higher on Monday.
Among the major miners, BHP Group is edging down 0.3 percent, while Fortescue Metals is edging up 0.4 percent, OZ Minerals is up almost 2 percent and Mineral Resources is adding more than 2 percent. Rio Tinto is flat.
Oil stocks are lower. Santos and Oil Search are losing more than 1 percent each, while Woodside Petroleum is down almost 2 percent, and Origin Energy is edging down 0.2 percent. Beach energy is flat.
Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank, ANZ Banking and Westpac are losing almost 1 percent each, while National Australia Bank is edging down 0.3 percent.
Among tech stocks, Xero is edging up 0.3 percent and Afterpay is gaining more than 1 percent, while Appen is adding more than 4 percent. WiseTech Global is up 4.6 percent.
Gold miners are mostly higher. Resolute Mining is gaining 1.5 percent, while Northern Star Resources and Gold Road Resources are adding almost 1 percent each. Evolution Mining is edging down 0.3 percent. Newcrest Mining is flat.
In other news, shares in Mesoblast are plunging more than 10 percent after the stem cell treatments producer reported a wider loss for the full year as it continues to work with the US Food and Drug Administration to get approval for its flagship product, Ryoncil.
In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.729 on Tuesday.
On Wall Street, stocks moved mostly higher during trading on Monday, following the advance seen last Friday. With the upward move, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq reached new record closing highs. Stocks continued to benefit from recent upward momentum, which helped lift the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq to record closing highs last Friday.
Among the major averages, the S&P 500 rose 19.42 points or 0.4 percent to 4,528.79 and the Nasdaq climbed 136.39 points or 0.9 percent to 15,265.89. Meanwhile, the narrower Dow edged down 55.96 points or 0.2 percent to 35,399.84.
The major European markets also moved to the upside, although the U.K. markets were closed for a holiday. While the German DAX Index rose by 0.2 percent, the French CAC 40 Index crept up by 0.1 percent.
Crude oil futures settled higher Monday, as investors weighted supply disruptions due to Hurricane Ida against the likelihood that OPEC and its allies will go ahead with an increase in output. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for October jumped $0.47 to $69.21 a barrel.
Market Analysis
Australian Market Modestly Higher
2021-08-31 01:31:22
