Australian Market Significantly Higher

Recouping some of the losses in the previous two sessions, the Australian stock market is significantly higher on Friday, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is moving above the 7,900 level, with gains in iron ore miners, financial and energy stocks partially offset by losses in gold miners.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 48.20 points or 0.61 percent to 7,909.40, after touching a high of 7,929.50 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 47.50 points or 0.59 percent to 8,141.80. Australian markets ended sharply lower on Thursday.

Among major miners, BHP Group and Rio Tinto are gaining more than 2 percent each, while Mineral Resources is advancing almost 5 percent and Fortescue Metals is adding almost 3 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly higher. Woodside Energy is gaining almost 1 percent, Beach energy is adding more than 1 percent and Santos is advancing almost 2 percent, while Origin Energy is edging down 0.1 percent.

Among tech stocks, Afterpay owner Block and Xero are edging up 0.2 to 0.4 percent each, while WiseTech Global is adding more than 1 percent. Zip is losing almost 4 percent. Appen is flat.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank, Westpac, ANZ Banking and National Australia Bank are edging up 0.3 to 0.5 percent each.

Gold miners are mostly lower. Newmont is losing more than 3 percent, Gold Road Resources is down almost 1 percent and Northern Star Resources is declining more than 2 percent, while Evolution Mining is edging up 0.1 percent. Resolute Mining is flat.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.655 on Friday.

On Wall Street, stocks saw some heavy selling in the final hour of the session on Thursday as the mood turned a bit cautious amid concerns about mega-cap firms’ earnings.

Among the major averages, the Dow managed to settle higher, gaining 81.20 points or 0.20 percent at 39,935.07, while the S&P 500 ended nearly 100 points down from that level, at 5,399.22, losing 27.91 points or 0.51 percent and the Nasdaq ended with a loss of 160.69 points or 0.93 percent at 17,181.72, coming off a high of 17,544.46.

Meanwhile, the major European markets also ended the day mixed. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 gained 0.4 percent, while Germany’s DAX and France’s CAC 40 ended down 0.48 percent and 1.15 percent, respectively.

Crude oil prices climbed higher on Thursday, extending recent gains after data showed a sharper than expected acceleration in U.S. GDP growth in Q2. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September rose $0.69 at $78.28 a barrel.

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