The Australian stock market is sharply higher on Thursday, extending the gains in the previous session, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 moving just below the 7,300 level, following the broadly positive cues overnight from Wall Street, aided by gains from materials, financial and technology stocks after the U.S. Fed raised its benchmark short-term interest rate to tame the worst inflation since the early 1980s. Traders are also tracking developments around the COVID situation in China.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 91.30 points or 1.27 percent 7,266.50, after touching a high of 7,296.8 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 104.50 points or 1.41 percent to 7,540.30. Australian markets ended significantly higher on Tuesday.
Among major miners, BHP Group is gaining more than 1 percent, Rio Tinto is adding almost 2 percent, Mineral Resources is advancing almost 3 percent, OZ Minerals is up more than 3 percent and Fortescue Metals is rising more than 4 percent.
Oil stocks are mixed. Santos is losing almost 1 percent and Woodside Petroleum is slipping more than 1 percent, while Origin Energy is edging up 0.5 percent and Beach Energy is gaining more than 1 percent.
Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank and Westpac are gaining almost 1 percent, while National Australia Bank is adding more than 1 percent and ANZ Banking advancing almost 2 percent.
In the tech space, Appen and WiseTech Global are surging almost 6 percent each, while Block is soaring more than 11 percent, Zip is rising almost 10 percent and Xero is adding almost 3 percent.
Gold miners are mostly lower. Northern Star Resources is edging down 0.5 percent, Newcrest Mining is losing more than 1 percent and Gold Road Resources is declining almost 2 percent, while Resolute Mining is up 1.5 percent and Evolution Mining is adding almost 1 percent.
In economic news, the jobless rate in Australia came in at a seasonally adjusted 4.0 percent in February, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Thursday. That was below expectations for 4.1 percent and down from 4.2 percent in January. The Australian economy added 77,400 jobs last month, blowing away forecasts for an increase of 37,000 jobs following the gain of 12,900 jobs in the previous month. The participation rate came in at 66.4 percent, exceeding expectations for 66.3 percent and up from 66.2 percent a month earlier.
In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.732 on Thursday.
On Wall Street, stocks saw substantial volatility following the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy announcement after showing a strong move to the upside in early trading on Wednesday. The major averages initially pulled back sharply in reaction to the Fed announcement but rallied strongly going into the close.
The major averages finished the session at their best levels of the day. The Dow jumped 518.76 points or 1.6 percent to 34,063.10, the Nasdaq soared 487.93 points or 3.8 percent to 13,436.55 and the S&P 500 surged 95.41 points or 2.2 percent at 4,357.86.
The major European markets also showed substantial moves to the upside on the day. While the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index shot up by 1.6 percent, the French CAC 40 Index and the German DAX Index surged by 3.7 percent and 3.8 percent, respectively.
Crude oil prices dropped Wednesday, extending losses to a third straight session after data showed a surprise surge in U.S. crude inventories, and amid hopes of some progress in Russia-Ukraine peace talks. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April ended lower by $1.40 or 1.5 percent at $95.04 a barrel.
Market Analysis
Australian Market Sharply Higher
2022-03-17 01:29:56
