Australian Market Sharply Higher

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is trading sharply higher on Tuesday, snapping a three-session losing streak, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is moving well above the 8,400 level, with gains in mining and technology stocks partially offset by weakness in energy and financial stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 76.50 points or 0.91 percent to 8,442.40, after touching a high of 8,504.60 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 82.40 points or 0.96 percent to 8,635.00. Australian stocks closed notably lower on Monday.

Among the major miners, BHP Group and Fortescue are advancing almost 4 percent each, while Mineral Resources is jumping almost 6 percent and Rio Tinto is gaining more than 3 percent. Oil stocks are mostly lower. Origin Energy is gaining almost 2 percent, while Woodside Energy is declining almost 2 percent, Santos is slipping more than 1 percent and Beach energy is down almost 1 percent.

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

Gold miners are mostly higher. Evolution Mining and Northern Star resources are advancing almost 3 percent each, while Genesis Minerals is jumping more than 6 percent, Newmont is surging more than 5 percent and Resolute Mining is gaining almost 2 percent.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank is down almost 1 percent, Westpac is edging down 0.1 percent, ANZ Banking is gaining more than 1 percent and National Australia Bank is losing more than 1 percent.

In other news, the manufacturing sector in Australia continued to barely expand in March, the latest survey from S&P Global revealed on Tuesday with a manufacturing PMI score of 50.1. That's unchanged from the February reading and it remains just barely above the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction. The survey also showed that the services PMI posted a score of 46.6, down from 52.8 in February and the composite PMI fell to 47.0 from 52.4 a month earlier.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.700 on Tuesday.

On Wall Street, stocks gave back some ground over the course of the trading day on Monday after moving sharply higher early in the session, but continued to turn in a strong performance. The major averages all rebounded after ending last Friday's trading at their lowest levels in several months.

The major averages ended the day well off their highs of the session but still posted notable gains. The Dow surged 631.00 points or 1.4 percent to 46,208.47, the Nasdaq jumped 299.15 points or 1.4 percent to 21,946.76 and the S&P 500 shot up 74.52 points or 1.2 percent to 6,581.00.

The major European markets all also showed significant moves to the upside on the day. The German DAX Index jumped by 1.2 percent and the French CAC 40 Index advanced by 0.8 percent, although the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index bucked the uptrend and dipped by 0.2 percent.

Crude oil prices plummeted on Monday after Trump's announcement that he ordered the U.S. forces to pause any planned attacks against Iran's power plants and energy infrastructure. West Texas Intermediate crude for May delivery was down $10.21 or 10.39 percent at $88.02 per barrel.