Australian Market Slightly Higher

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is trading slightly higher on Friday, extending the gains in the previous four sessions, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is staying above the 8,850 level, with gains in financial stocks and a mixed performance in most other sectors.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 8.00 points or 0.09 percent to 8,869.70, after hitting a low of 8,855.60 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 14.20 points or 0.16 percent to 9,198.40. Australian stocks closed notably higher on Thursday.

Among major miners, Fortescue and Rio Tinto are gaining almost 1 percent each, while BHP Group and Mineral Resources are losing almost 1 percent each. BHP Group and Rio Tinto agreed to jointly develop up to 200 million tonnes of iron ore in Western Australia's Pilbara region.

Oil stocks are weak. Santos is slipping more than 1 percent, Woodside Energy is down almost 2 percent, Origin Energy is edging down 0.5 percent and Beach energy is declining more than 2 percent. Among tech stocks, Afterpay-owner Block is losing almost 1 percent, and WiseTech Global is edging down 0.2 percent, while Zip is edging up 0.2 percent and Xero is gaining almost 1 percent. Appen is surging more than 10 percent after it reported that 4 million performance rights lapsed on December 31, 2025.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank, ANZ Banking and National Australia Bank are edging up 0.1 to 0.4 percent each, while Westpac is gaining almost 1 percent. Gold miners are mixed. Evolution Mining and Northern Star Resources are losing almost 1 percent each. Resolute Mining and Genesis Minerals are edging up 0.1 to 0.2 percent each, while Newmont is gaining more than 1 percent.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.670 on Friday.

On Wall Street, stocks gave back some ground in the latter part of the trading day on Thursday but managed to remain mostly higher, after turning in a strong performance for much of the session. The major averages all ended the day in positive territory, regaining some ground following the pullback seen over the two previous sessions.

The Dow advanced 292.81 points or 0.6 percent to 49,442.44, the Nasdaq climbed 58.27 points or 0.3 percent to 23,530.02 and the S&P 500 rose 17.87 points or 0.3 percent to 6,944.47.

Meanwhile, the major European markets closed mixed on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index slipped by 0.2 percent, the German DAX Index rose by 0.3 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index climbed by 0.5 percent.

Crude oil prices plummeted on Thursday as the potential for a U.S.-Iran confrontation diminished for the time being. West Texas Intermediate crude for February delivery was down $2.83 or 4.56 percent at $59.19 per barrel.