Australian Market Significantly Higher

(RTTNews) - The Australian market is trading significantly higher on Thursday, reversing to the losses in the previous two sessions, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is moving well above the 8,500 level, with gains across most sectors led by technology stocks. Energy stocks were the only weak spot amid tumbling crude oil prices.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 83.70 points or 0.99 percent to 8,531.60, after touching a high of 8,538.10 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 95.40 points or 1.09 percent to 8,816.80. Australian stocks ended modestly lower on Wednesday.

Among major miners, BHP Group and Fortescue are gaining almost 1 percent each, while Mineral Resources is advancing almost 2 percent and Rio Tinto is edging up 0.5 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly lower. Beach energy and Woodside Energy are losing almost 1 percent each, while Santos is down more than 1 percent and Origin Energy is declining almost 4 percent.

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block is jumping almost 13 percent, Appen is surging almost 5 percent, Zip is soaring more than 8 percent, Xero is advancing almost 6 percent and WiseTech Global is adding more than 4 percent.

Among the big four banks, ANZ Banking, National Australia Bank and Westpac are edging up 0.2 to 0.5 percent each, while Commonwealth Bank is gaining more than 1 percent.

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

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.649 on Thursday.

On Wall Street, stocks fluctuated over the course of the trading session on Wednesday after failing to sustain an early rally, before eventually ending the day mostly higher. The major averages all closed in positive territory after spending the day bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq closed up 131.38 points or 0.6 percent at 22,564.23 but had surged by as much as 1.7 percent in early trading. The S&P 500 also rose 24.84 points or 0.4 percent to 6,642.16, while the narrower Dow inched up 47.03 points or 0.1 percent to 46,138.77.

Meanwhile, the major European markets moved to the downside over the course of the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index fell by 0.5 percent, the French CAC 40 Index dipped by 0.2 percent and the German DAX Index edged down by 0.1 percent.

Crude oil prices tumbled on Wednesday, with various data points reinforcing oversupply concerns. West Texas Intermediate crude for December delivery was down $1.22 or 2.01 percent at $59.52 per barrel.