Australian Market Notably Higher

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is trading notably higher on Friday, snapping a four-session losing streak, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is moving up to near the 8,700 level, with gains in energy and financial stocks partially offset by weakness in mining and technology stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 35.30 points or 0.41 percent to 8,696.20, after hitting a low of 8,660.90 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 30.30 points or 0.34 percent to 8,853.50. Australian stocks closed significantly lower on Thursday.

Among major miners, Mineral Resources and BHP Group are losing almost 1 percent each, while Fortescue is declining more than 2 percent and Rio Tinto is edging down 0.4 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly higher. Origin Energy, Santos and Beach energy is gaining almost 1 percent each, while Woodside Energy is losing almost 1 percent

Among tech stocks, Afterpay and Square-owner Block is losing almost 1 percent, Zip is adding almost 3 percent and Appen is slipping more than 2 percent, while Xero and WiseTech Global are gaining almost 2 percent each.

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

Gold miners are mostly lower. Northern Star Resources is edging down 0.3 percent, Genesis Minerals is down more than 1 percent, Evolution Mining is losing almost 1 percent and Resolute Mining is declining almost 2 percent, while Newmont is gaining almost 2 percent.

In other news, shares in Electro Optic Systems are surging almost 6 percent after the anti-drone technology company announced its largest-ever counter-drone contract worth $700 million with a Gulf state member. Shares in Maas Group are in a trading halt after following the news that Firmus has pulled its IPO. Maas holds a 3.2 percent stake in Maas.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.696 on Friday.

On Wall Street, stocks moved mostly lower during trading on Thursday, adding to the modest losses posted in the previous session. The tech-heavy Nasdaq showed a notable move to the downside, pulling back further off the record closing high set on Tuesday.

The Nasdaq ended the day off its lows of the session but still slumped 345.35 points or 1.3 percent to 27,193.34. The S&P 500 also fell 36.41 points or 0.5 percent to 7,765.36, although the narrower Dow bucked the downtrend and inched up 51.77 points or 0.1 percent to 51,231.64.

Meanwhile, the major European markets moved to the downside on the day. While the German DAX Index slumped by 1.2 percent, the French CAC 40 Index fell by 0.5 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index dipped by 0.2 percent.

Crude oil price gave back some ground in mid-day trading moved back to the upside since then. West Texas Intermediate crude for November delivery was up by $3.65 or 4.1 percent at $91.93 a barrel after spiking by as much as $4.92 or 5.6 percent to a high of $93.20 a barrel.