Australian Market Significantly Higher

The Australian stock market is significantly higher on Friday, recouping the losses in the previous session, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 moving above the 7,200 level, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight, with strength in materials and energy stocks amid higher commodity prices. Technology stocks also gained to mirror their peers on the tech-heavy Nasdaq.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 59.10 points or 0.82 percent to 7,235.00, after touching a high of 7,254.60 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 68.50 points or 0.93 percent to 7,469.30. Australian markets ended significantly lower on Thursday.

Among major miners, Rio Tinto is gaining almost 3 percent, BHP Group is up more than 2 percent, OZ Minerals is adding almost 4 percent, Fortescue Metals is rising 3.5 percent and Mineral Resources is advancing almost 5 percent.

Oil stocks are higher. Origin Energy and Santos are adding almost 1 percent each, while Beach energy is gaining more than 2 percent and Woodside Energy is flat.

Among tech stocks, WiseTech Global is adding more than 5 percent, Xero is up more than 3 percent and Afterpay owner Block is advancing 4.5 percent, while Appen and Zip are gaining almost 2 percent each.

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

Gold miners are higher. Northern Star Resources and Evolution Mining are gaining 3.5 percent each, while Resolute Mining is adding 2.5 percent, Gold Road Resources is advancing 5.5 percent and Newcrest Mining is up more than 2 percent.

In economic news, the services sector in Australia continued to expand in May, albeit at a slower pace, the latest survey from S&P Global revealed on Friday with a services PMI score of 53.2. That’s down from 56.1 in April, although it remains above the boom-or-bust line of 50. This marked the fourth consecutive month in which business activity in the Australia service sector rose, albeit at the slowest pace in the current sequence. The survey also showed that the composite index fell to 52.9 in May from 55.9 in April.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.726 on Friday.

On Wall Street, stocks showed a substantial turnaround over the course of the trading session on Thursday. The rally on the day more than offset the pullback seen over the two previous sessions, with the major averages reaching their best closing levels in almost a month.

The major averages recovered from early weakness to end the day sharply higher. The Dow jumped 435.05 points or 1.3 percent to 33,248.28, the Nasdaq spiked 322.44 points or 2.7 percent to 12,316.90 and the S&P 500 surged 75.59 points or 1.8 percent to 4,176.82.

The major European markets also all moved to the upside on the day, with the markets in London closed for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. The French CAC 40 Index jumped by 1.3 percent and the German DAX Index shot up by 1 percent.

Crude oil moved notably higher on Thursday after the Energy Information Administration released a report showing a much bigger than expected weekly decrease in U.S. crude oil inventories last week. Crude for July delivery jumped $1.61 or 1.4 percent to $116.87 a barrel.

Market Analysis