Australian Market Modestly Higher

(RTTNews) - The Australian market is trading modestly higher on Thursday, adding to the gains in the previous two sessions, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is moving above the 9,000 level, with gains in gold miners and financial stocks partially offset by weakness in energy and technology stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 17.80 points or 0.20 percent to 9,008.70, after touching a high of 9,050.20 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 14.00 points or 0.15 percent to 9,313.00. Australian stocks ended significantly higher on Wednesday.

Among major miners, BHP Group and Rio Tinto are edging up 0.2 percent each, while Mineral Resources is losing more than 1 percent and Fortescue is down almost 1 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly weak. Beach energy is down almost 1 percent, Origin Energy is losing more than 1 percent, while Woodside Energy and Santos are edging down 0.5 percent each.

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block is losing more than 1 percent and Appen is down almost 1 percent, while Xero and WiseTech Global are slipping 2.5 percent each. Zip is edging up 0.1 percent.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank, ANZ Banking and National Australia Bank are gaining almost 1 percent each, while Westpac is flat.

Among gold miners, Newmont, Northern Star Resources and Evolution Mining are gaining more than 2 percent each, while Resolute Mining is adding almost 3 percent and Genesis Minerals is surging more than 6 percent.

In other news, shares in AMP are jumping more than 11 percent after the financial services company reported that total assets under management increased 3.6 percent quarter-on-quarter to $159.5 billion.

In economic news, the jobless rate is Australia came in at a seasonally adjusted 4.5 percent in September, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Thursday. That was above forecasts for 4.3 percent and up from 4.2 percent in August.

The Australian economy added 14,900 jobs last month, missing expectations for an increase of 20,500 following the loss of 11,800 jobs in August. The participation rate improved to 67.0 percent, exceeding expectations for 66.8 percent, which would have been unchanged.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.648 on Thursday.

On Wall Street, stocks showed wild swings over the course of the trading day on Wednesday, extending the substantial volatility seen during the previous session. The major averages spent the day bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line.

While the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 ended the day firmly in positive territory, the narrower Dow posted a slim loss. The Dow edged down 17.15 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 46,253.31, but the S&P 500 rose 26.75 points or 0.4 percent to 6,671.06 and the Nasdaq climbed 148.38 points or 0.7 percent to 22,679.08.

The major European markets also turned in a mixed performance on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index surged by 2.0 percent, the German DAX Index dipped by 0.2 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index fell by 0.3 percent.

Crude oil prices fell on Wednesday following the rapid escalation of friction between the U.S. and China, while oversupply concerns also loom. West Texas Intermediate crude for November delivery was down $0.33 or 0.56 percent at $58.37 per barrel.