Australian Market Modestly Higher

(RTTNews) - The Australian market is trading modestly higher on Thursday, extending the gains in the previous two sessions, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is moving above the 8,550 level, with gains in mining and financial stocks partially offset by weakness in energy and technology stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 31.90 points or 0.37 percent to 8,567.20, after touching a high of 8,569.90 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 30.60 points or 0.35 percent to 8,830.20. Australian stocks ended notably higher on Wednesday.

Among major miners, Mineral Resources is surging more than 6 percent and Fortescue Metals is adding almost 1 percent, while BHP Group and Rio Tinto are gaining almost 2 percent each.

Oil stocks are mostly lower. Woodside Energy is edging down 0.5 percent, while Beach energy and Santos are losing almost 1 percent each. Origin Energy is edging up 0.3 percent.

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block is edging down 0.4 percent, and Xero is losing almost 1 percent and Appen is declining almost 2 percent, while Zip and WiseTech Global are edging up 0.2 to 0.5 percent each.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank is gaining almost 1 percent and ANZ Banking is advancing almost 2 percent, while National Australia Bank and Westpac are adding more than 1 percent. Among gold miners, Northern Star Resources is gaining almost 1 percent and Gold Road Resources is edging up 0.2 percent, while Resolute Mining and Newmont are advancing almost 3 percent each. Evolution Mining is losing more than 1 percent.

In other news, shares in Temple & Webster are jumping more than 11 percent after the online furniture retailer reported sales jumped nearly 24 percent and topped market expectations.

Shares in IAG are tumbling more than 9 percent even after the insurer reported a 91.2 percent leap in profit for the half-year to December and a 20 percent higher interim dividend.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.628 on Thursday.

On Wall Street, stocks showed a notable recovery attempt over the course of the trading day on Wednesday after moving sharply lower early in the session. The major averages climbed well off their worst levels of the day, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq reaching positive territory.

The Nasdaq inched up 6.09 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 19,649.95 after tumbling by as much as 1.2 percent, but the Dow and the S&P 500 ended the day in the red. The Dow slid 225.09 points or 0.5 percent to 44,368.56, while the S&P 500 fell 16.53 points or 0.3 percent to 6,051.97.

Meanwhile, the major European markets moved to the upside on the day. While the German DAX Index climbed by 0.5 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index increased by 0.3 percent and the French CAC 40 Index crept up by 0.2 percent.

Crude oil prices fell sharply on Wednesday, weighed down by data showing a larger than expected increase in U.S. crude inventories last week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures settled lower by $1.95 or about 2.66 percent at $71.37 a barrel, falling after three successive days of gains.