Australian Market Sharply Higher

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is trading sharply higher on Thursday, reversing the losses in the previous session, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is moving above the 8,300 level, with gains across most sectors led by technology and financial stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 126.30 points or 1.54 percent to 8,339.60, after touching a high of 8,345.60 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 123.80 points or 1.46 percent to 8,580.60. Australian stocks ended modestly lower on Wednesday.

Among major miners, BHP Group, Rio Tinto, Mineral Resources and Fortescue Metals are all gaining almost 1 percent each.

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

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block and WiseTech Global are gaining almost 3 percent each, while Appen is adding almost 2 percent, Zip is surging almost 8 percent and Xero is up more than 1 percent.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank and ANZ Banking are gaining almost 3 percent each, while Westpac is adding more than 2 percent and National Australia Bank is advancing more than 3 percent. Among gold miners, Gold Road Resources and Resolute Mining are advancing more than 1 percent each, while Evolution Mining is up more than 2 percent and Newmont is adding almost 3 percent. Northern Star Resources is edging down 0.4 percent.

In economic news, the unemployment rate in Australia came in at a seasonally adjusted 4.0 percent in December, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Thursday - in line with expectations and up from 3.9 percent in November. The participation rate was 67.1 percent, beating forecasts for 67.0 percent - which would have been unchanged.

The Australian economy added 56,300 jobs last month, blowing away expectations for an increase of 14,500 following the downwardly revised gain of 28,200 in November (originally 35,600 jobs). Full-time employment was down 23,700 jobs, while part-time employment jumped by 80,000.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.624 on Thursday.

On Wall Street, stocks moved sharply higher early in the session on Wednesday and continued to turn in a strong performance throughout the trading day. The major averages all surged after ending Tuesday's trading narrowly mixed.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq posted a standout gain, soaring 466.84 points or 2.5 percent to 19,511.23 after ending the previous session at its lowest closing level in almost two months. The Dow also jumped 703.27 points or 1.7 percent to 43,221.55, while the S&P 500 shot up 107.00 points or 1.8 percent to 5,949.91.

The major European markets also moved to the upside on the day. While the German DAX Index surged by 1.5 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index jumped by 1.2 percent and the French CAC 40 Index climbed by 0.7 percent.

Crude oil prices spiked Wednesday as crude inventories in the U.S. dropped last week, while possible supply disruptions due to new sanctions against Russia also supported prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for February rose $2.54 or 3.3 percent at $80.04 a barrel.