Australian Market Modestly Higher

The Australian stock market is modestly higher on Tuesday, extending the modest gains in the previous session, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 just below the 7,500 level, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight, with some strength in technology and energy stocks.

However, the domestic coronavirus situation continues to dent investor sentiment, despite Victoria and New South Wales slowly opening up after the lockdowns. Victoria reported 1,510 new locally acquired cases and four deaths on Monday, with the active cases totalling 24,715 across Victoria. NSW has reported only 282 new locally acquired cases of COVID-19 and one death.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 19.00 points or 0.26 percent to 7,460.00, after touching a high of 7,471.30 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 21.10 points or 0.27 percent to 7,775.40. Australian stocks closed modestly higher on Monday.

Among the major miners, BHP Group is edging up 0.5 percent and OZ Minerals is edging up 0.2 percent, while Mineral Resources is losing more than 7 percent, Rio Tinto is declining almost 1 percent and Fortescue Metals is down 1.5 percent.

Oil stocks are mixed. Origin Energy is losing almost 1 percent, while Santos is edging up 0.3 percent and Beach energy is adding more than 1 percent. Woodside Petroleum is flat. Oil Search is edging up 0.2 percent after reporting a 12 percent increase in quarterly sales revenue amid higher commodity prices.

Among the big four banks, Westpac, National Australia Bank and ANZ Banking are edging up 0.4 percent each, while Commonwealth Bank is flat.

Among tech stocks, Appen is gaining almost 2 percent and Afterpay is adding almost 3 percent, while WiseTech Global is losing more than 2 percent. Xero is flat.

Gold miners are mixed. Resolute Mining and Northern Star Resources are gaining more than 1 percent each, while Newcrest Mining is edging up 0.2 percent. Evolution Mining is flat. Gold Road Resources has gone into a trading halt.

Shares in Crown Resorts are surging more than 9 percent after the Royal Commission given it a 2-year grace period to hold its Melbourne casino license and improve operations. Peer Star Entertainment is also up more than 6 percent.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.751 on Tuesday.

On Wall Street, stocks moved mostly higher during trading on Monday, extending the notable advance seen last week. With the continued upward move, the Dow and the S&P 500 reached new record closing highs.

The major averages all closed in positive territory, although the tech-heavy Nasdaq outperformed its counterparts. While the Nasdaq jumped 136.51 points or 0.9 percent to 15,226.71, the S&P 500 rose 21.58 points or 0.5 percent to 4,566.48 and the Dow edged up 64.13 points or 0.2 percent to 35,741.15.

Meanwhile, the major European markets ended the day mixed. While the French CAC 40 Index fell 0.3 percent, the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index rose 0.3 percent and the German DAX Index climbed 0.4 percent.

Crude oil futures settled flat on Monday as prices fell sharply from the day’s high towards the end of the session, with traders weighing supply and demand. West Texas Intermediate Crude for December ended unchanged at $83.76 a barrel after peaking at $85.41 a barrel, a seven-year high earlier in the day.

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