The Australian stock market is modestly higher on Monday, extending the gains of the previous session, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 above the 7,300 level, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street on Friday on strong US Jobs report. However, traders continue to be concerned by the domestic coronavirus infections in New South Wales and the related lockdown and restrictions, though eased a bit.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 13.80 points or 0.19 percent to 7,322.40, after touching a high of 7,343.70 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 11.90 points or 0.16 percent to 7,599.00. Australian stocks closed modestly higher on Friday.
Among the major miners, BHP Group and Fortescue Metals are edging down 0.3 percent each, while Rio Tinto is edging up 0.2 percent. Mineral Resources and OZ Minerals are gaining almost 1 percent each.
Among Oil stocks, Oil Search is edging down 0.1 percent, while Woodside Petroleum, Origin Energy and Santos are gaining more than 1 percent each. Beach energy is flat.
Among tech stocks, Afterpay and Appen edging down 0.5 percent each, while WiseTech Global is gaining more than 1 percent and Xero is edging up 0.3 percent.
Gold miners are higher. Evolution Mining, Northern Star Resources and Newcrest Mining are gaining more than 1 percent each, while Gold Road Resources is adding more than 2 percent and Resolute Mining is edging up 0.4 percent.
Among the big four banks, Westpac is edging up 0.1 percent, while Commonwealth Bank, ANZ Banking and National Australia Bank are edging down 0.2 percent each.
In other news, shares in Sydney Airport are skyrocketing almost 33 percent after Australia’s biggest and busiest airport received an unsolicited A$8.25 per share or A$22.3 ($16.7 billion) cash takeover offer from a consortium of infrastructure investors led by IFM Investors, QSuper and Global Infrastructure Management.
Travel and hospitality stocks are gaining on the Sydney Airport news. Qantas rising losing almost 5 percent, Flight Centre is gaining more than 3 percent and Corporate Travel is adding almost 3 percent, while Webjet and Qantas are up more than 2 percent each.
Tabcorp Holdings Ltd said on Monday it would spin off its Lotteries & Keno business into a separately listed entity. The stock is down almost 4 percent.
In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.752 on Monday.
On Wall Street, stocks showed a strong move to the upside over the course of the trading day on Friday, with traders reacting positively to the closely watched monthly jobs report. The advance lifted all three major averages to new record closing highs.
The major averages reached new highs going into the close of trading. The Dow rose 152.82 points or 0.4 percent to 34,786.35, the Nasdaq advanced 116.95 points or 0.8 percent to 14,639.33 and the S&P 500 climbed 32.40 points or 0.8 percent to 4,352.34.
Meanwhile, the major European markets ended the day mixed. While the German DAX Index climbed by 0.3 percent, the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index and the French CAC 40 Index both closed slightly below the unchanged line.
Crude oil futures settled marginally lower on Friday, as markets looked ahead to the outcome of the OPEC+ meeting. The West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for August ended down by $0.07 or about 0.1% at $75.16 a barrel.
Market Analysis
Australian Market Modestly Higher
2021-07-05 01:50:22
