Australian Market Modestly Higher

(RTTNews) - Australian shares are trading modestly higher on Wednesday, extending the gains in the previous two sessions, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 moving well above the 9,150 level, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight, with gains in mining and financial stocks partially offset by weakness in energy and technology stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 23.80 points or 0.24 percent to 9,188.40, after touching a high of 9,200.30 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 20.90 points or 0.22 percent to 9,395.80. Australian stocks ended notably higher on Tuesday.

Among major miners, BHP Group is gaining more than 1 percent, Mineral Resources is advancing almost 1 percent and Rio Tinto is adding almost 2 percent, while Fortescue is edging down 0.3 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly lower. Woodside Energy is declining more than 4 percent, Beach energy is losing more than 2 percent and Santos is down almost 3 percent, while Origin Energy is edging up 0.4 percent.

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block is edging up 0.2 percent, while WiseTech Global is tumbling almost 8 percent, Zip is down almost 1 percent, Xero is declining more than 4 percent and Appen is edging down 0.3 percent.

Among the big four banks, ANZ Banking is gaining almost 1 percent, while Commonwealth Bank, National Australia bank and Westpac are edging up 0.1 to 0.4 percent each.

Among gold miners, Evolution Mining, Genesis Minerals and Resolute Mining are gaining almost 2 percent each, while Northern Star Resources is edging up 0.2 percent and Newmont is adding more than 2 percent.

In other news, shares in DroneShield are tumbling almost 10 percent after reporting a loss compared to a profit last year.

Shares in Domino's Pizza are also tumbling more than 11 percent, after reporting a big loss on writedowns.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.717 on Wednesday.

On Wall Street, stocks gave back some ground after an early surge but maintained a positive bias throughout the trading session on Tuesday. The major averages all moved to the upside after ending the previous session mixed.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq advanced 171.11 points or 0.7 percent to 26,151.80, the S&P 500 climbed 24.42 points or 0.3 percent to 7,677.28 and the Dow rose 160.24 points or 0.3 percent to 53,577.40. Meanwhile, the major European markets closed mixed on the day. The German DAX Index climbed by 0.6 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index increased by 0.3 percent, although the French CAC 40 Index has bucked the uptrend and dipped by 0.2 percent.

Crude oil prices plummeted Tuesday as investors saw the U.S. administration's move to isolate Iran economically in lieu of military strikes as a beginning sign for easing of gulf tensions. West Texas Intermediate crude for October delivery sank $2.83 or 3.33 percent at $82.18 per barrel.