The Australian stock market is notably higher on Thursday, extending the gains in the previous session, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 staying above the 7,300 level, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight, with gains across most sectors, led by financial and mining stocks.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 37.00 points or 0.51 percent to 7,360.70, after touching a high of 7,383.30 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 38.60 points or 0.51 percent to 7,576.80. Australian stocks ended notably higher on Wednesday.
Among major miners, BHP Group and Rio Tinto are gaining almost 1 percent each, while Fortescue Metals is advancing more than 1 percent and Mineral Resources is surging almost 7 percent after again amended its joint venture with its Chinese partner, battery chemicals giant Albemarle.
Oil stocks are mostly higher. Origin Energy, Beach energy and Woodside Energy are edging up 0.5 percent each, while Santos is edging down 0.3 percent.
In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block is losing almost 1 percent, while WiseTech Global is adding more than 1 percent and Xero is edging up 0.2 percent. Appen is flat. Zip is soaring more than 11 percent after reporting higher revenues and total transaction volume for the June quarter.
Among the big four banks, National Australia Bank is gaining almost 1 percent and ANZ Banking is edging up 0.4 percent, while Commonwealth Bank and Westpac are adding more than 1 percent each.
Among gold miners, Evolution Mining and Newcrest Mining are gaining almost 1 percent each, while Gold Road Resources is adding 1.5 percent and Resolute Mining is edging up 0.5 percent. Northern Star Resources is losing more than 4 percent.
In other news, shares in Flight Centre are gaining more than 4 percent after the travel operator upgraded profit guidance for the full year.
In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.680 on Thursday.
On Wall Street, stocks fluctuated after an early move to the upside but largely managed to maintain a positive bias throughout the trading day on Wednesday. The major averages once again climbed to their highest closing levels in over a year.
The major averages all closed in positive territory, although the tech-heavy Nasdaq inched up just 4.38 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 14,358.02. The Dow climbed 109.28 points or 0.3 percent to 35,061.21 and the S&P 500 rose 10.74 points or 0.2 percent to 4,565.72.
The major European markets also mostly moved to the upside on the day. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index surged by 1.8 percent and the French CAC 40 Index inched up by 0.1 percent, although the German DAX Index bucked the uptrend and edged down by 0.1 percent.
Crude oil futures pared early gains and settled lower on Wednesday after data showed a smaller-than-expected drop in U.S. crude inventories last week, while a stronger dollar weighed as well. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for August fell $0.40 or 0.5 percent at $75.35 a barrel.
Market Analysis
Australian Market Notably Higher
2023-07-20 01:50:43
