Australian Market Notably Higher

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is trading notably higher on Friday, extending the gains in the previous session, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is moving up to near the 8,700 level, with gains across all sectors led by technology and mining stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 55.70 points or 0.65 percent to 8,694.70, after touching a high of 8,696.50 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 55.00 points or 0.62 percent to 8,945.80. Australian stocks closed significantly higher on Thursday.

Among major miners, BHP Group is gaining almost 2 percent and Mineral Resources is advancing more than 4 percent, while Fortescue Metals and Rio Tinto are adding more than 1 percent each.

In a fourth quarter and full year update, BHP reported production growth across all key commodities in the fourth quarter and record iron ore and copper production for the full year.

Oil stocks are mostly higher. Santos, Origin Energy and Beach energy are edging up 0.3 to 0.4 percent each, while Woodside Energy is gaining more than 1 percent.

Among tech stocks, Afterpay-owner Block and Appen are gaining almost 3 percent each, while Zip is advancing almost 4 percent, WiseTech Global is adding almost 1 percent and Xero is rising almost 2 percent.

Among the big four banks, National Australia Bank, ANZ Banking and Westpac are edging up 0.3 to 0.5 percent each, while Commonwealth Bank is edging down 0.1 percent.

Gold miners are mostly higher. Northern Star Resources is gaining almost 1 percent, while Gold Road Resources and Newmont are edging up 0.2 to 0.3 percent each. Resolute Mining is losing more than 1 percent and Evolution Mining is edging down 0.3 percent.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.650 on Friday.

On Wall Street, stocks saw further upside during trading on Thursday after moving modestly higher over the course of the previous session. With the continued upward move, the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 reached new record closing highs.

The major averages ended the session near their best levels of the day. The Nasdaq advanced 153.78 points or 0.7 percent to 20,884.27, the S&P 500 climbed 33.66 points or 0.5 percent to 6,297.36 and the Dow rose 229.71 points or 0.5 percent to 44,484.49.

The major European markets also moved to the upside on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index climbed by 0.5 percent, the French CAC 40 Index and the German DAX Index jumped by 1.3 percent and 1.5 percent, respectively.

Crude oil prices increased on Thursday as fresh tension brewing in the Middle East generated demand, while a drop in U.S. inventories was seen as reflecting robust summer demand. West Texas Intermediate crude for August delivery surged $1.16 to settle at $67.54 per barrel.