Australian Market Notably Higher

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

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 62.30 points or 0.68 percent to 9,208.10, after touching a high of 9,213.00 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 66.30 points or 0.71 percent to 9,378.20. Australian stocks ended sharply higher on Tuesday.

Among major miners, BHP Group is gaining almost 3 percent, Fortescue is up almost 1 percent, Mineral Resources is advancing more than 3 percent and Rio Tinto is adding almost 2 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly lower. Origin Energy is down almost 1 percent and Woodside Energy is declining almost 3 percent, while Beach energy and Santos are losing almost 2 percent each.

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block is gaining almost 2 percent, WiseTech Global is advancing more than 3 percent, Zip is jumping almost 6 percent, Xero is adding more than 1 percent and Appen is surging almost 7 percent.

Among the big four banks, ANZ Banking and Westpac are edging down 0.3 percent each, while Commonwealth Bank is losing more than 1 percent. National Australia bank is flat.

Among gold miners, Evolution Mining is gaining almost 2 percent and Northern Star Resources is adding almost 3 percent, while Genesis Minerals and Newmont are up more than 1 percent each. Resolute Mining is edging down 0.3 percent.

In other news, shares in Neuren Pharmaceuticals are jumping more than 17 percent after it reported upbeat financial results for the second quarter and upgrading its guidance for the full-year 2026.

Shares in IperionX are surging more than 8 percent, rebounding from a recent sell-off over plans of its ultimate parent company to be redomiciled to Texas and listed directly on the Nasdaq.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.704 on Wednesday.

On Wall Street, stocks moved mostly in positive territory during Tuesday's session, extending the strong upward move seen over the past several sessions. The major averages all showed significant moves to the upside, with the Dow, NASDAQ and S&P 500 all hitting fresh record closing highs.

The Dow rallied 907.47 points or 1.71 percent to finish at 54,085.88, while the NASDAQ soared 671.10 points or 2.59 percent to end at 26,584.99 and the S&P 500 jumped 136.02 points or 1.79 percent to close at 7,736.52. The major European markets have all also moved to the upside on the day. While the German DAX Index is up by 0.9 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index and the French CAC 40 Index are both up by 0.4 percent.

Crude oil prices plunged again on Tuesday amid rising optimism over a resolution to the U.S.-Iran conflict, easing supply disruption concerns. West Texas Intermediate crude for September delivery was down $4.66 or 5.80 percent at $75.68 per barrel.