Australian Market Significantly Higher

The Australian stock market is significantly higher on Thursday, recouping the losses in the previous session, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 moving above the 7,400 levels, following the broadly positive cues from global markets overnight, boosted by strong gains in technology stocks. Partially offset by weakness in gold mining and energy stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 68.90 points or 0.94 percent to 7,421.10, after touching a high of 7,422.00 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 68.50 points or 0.91 percent to 7,627.60. Australian stocks ended significantly lower on Wednesday.

Among major miners, Rio Tinto is gaining almost 1 percent and Mineral Resources is adding more than 2 percent, while Fortescue Metals and BHP Group are edging up 0.3 to 0.5 percent each. OZ Minerals is flat.

Oil stocks are mostly weak. Beach energy is gaining 1.5 percent, while Origin Energy is losing almost 2 percent, Woodside Energy is edging down 0.1 percent and Santos is down 1.5 percent.

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block is surging more than 8 percent and Zip is advancing more than 5 percent, while Appen, WiseTech Global and Xero are gaining more than 2 percent each.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank is edging down 0.5 percent, while Westpac and National Australia Bank are gaining more than 1 percent each. ANZ Banking is edging up 0.4 percent.

Among gold miners, Northern Star Resources, Gold Road Resources and Newcrest Mining are losing almost 2 percent each, while Evolution Mining is slipping almost 3 percent. Resolute Mining is gaining almost 1 percent.

In other news, shares in Sonic Healthcare are skyrocketing almost 12 percent despite the healthcare company posting 54 percent decline in first-half net profit, due to a significant reduction in COVID revenues. However, profits were up strongly on pre-pandemic times.

Shares in AMP plunged almost 14 percent after the wealth manager posted a 34 percent drop in annual underlying profit due to a squeeze on margins at its banking unit.

In economic news, the unemployment rate in Australia came in at a seasonally adjusted 3.7 percent in January, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Thursday – higher than expectations for 3.5 percent, which would have been unchanged from December. The Australian economy lost 11,500 jobs last month, badly missing expectations for an increase of 20,000 after shedding 14,600 in the previous month. Full-time employment was down 43,300 jobs after climbing 17,600 a month earlier. The participation rate was 66.5, missing forecasts for 66.6 – which would have been unchanged.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.688 on Thursday.

On Wall Street, stocks regained ground over the course of the trading session after an initial move to the downside on Wednesday. The major averages climbed well off their worst levels of the day and eventually closed in positive territory.

The major averages all finished the day higher, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq leading the advance. While the Nasdaq jumped 110.45 points or 0.9 percent to 12,070.59, the S&P 500 rose 11.47 points or 0.3 percent to 4,147.60 and the Dow inched up 38.78 points or 0.1 percent to 34,128.05.

The major European markets also moved to the upside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index jumped by 1.2 percent, the German DAX Index advanced by 0.8 percent and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index climbed by 0.6 percent.

Crude oil prices came off daily lows but still moved solidly lower on Wednesday, hurt by a stronger U.S. dollar and a spike in U.S. crude inventories last week. West Texas Intermediate was down $0.47 or 0.6 percent to $78.59 per barrel.

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