Australian Market Slightly Higher

(RTTNews) - The Australian market is slightly higher on Thursday, recouping some of the sharp losses in the previous session, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is staying a tad below the 7,600 level, with gains in gold miners and financial stocks partially offset by weakness in financial and technology stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 9.40 points or 0.12 percent to 7,579.30, after touching a high of 7,589.00 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 10.90 points or 0.14 percent to 7,842.80. Australian stocks ended sharply lower on Wednesday.

Among major miners, Rio Tinto and Fortescue Metals are edging down 0.2 to 0.4 percent each, while BHP Group is edging up 0.1 percent and Mineral Resources is adding almost 1 percent.

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

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block is plunging more than 7 percent, Xero is edging down 0.3 percent and Zip is losing more than 1 percent, while Appen is gaining almost 1 percent. WiseTech Global is flat.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank, ANZ Banking and National Australia Bank are gaining almost 1 percent each, while Westpac is adding 1.5 percent.

Among gold miners, Evolution Mining is gaining 1.5 percent, Resolute Mining is advancing more than 4 percent, Gold Road Resources is adding almost 3 percent, Newmont is up almost 1 percent and Northern Star Resources is rising almost 2 percent.

In other news, shares in Bapcor are plunging 31 percent after the Autobarn-owner downgraded its profit guidance and blamed consumers.

Shares in Woolworths slipped 4 percent after the supermarket group's results missed analysts' forecasts.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.652 on Thursday.

On Wall Street, stocks saw substantial volatility following the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement Wednesday afternoon after turning in a lackluster performance for much of the session. The major averages initially surged in reaction to the Fed announcement but pulled back going into the close.

The major averages eventually finished the day mixed. While the Dow rose 87.37 points or 0.2 percent to 37,903.29, the Nasdaq fell 52.34 points or 0.3 percent to 15,605.48 and the S&P 500 dipped 17.30 points or 0.3 percent to 5,018.39.

While most of the major European markets were also closed on the day, U.K. stocks moved modestly lower. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index ended the day down by 0.3 percent.

Crude oil prices fell to a seven-week low on Wednesday after data showed an unexpected sharp jump in U.S. crude inventories last week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for June ended lower by $2.93 at $79.00 a barrel, the lowest settlement since March 12.