Australian Market Sharply Higher

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is sharply higher on Wednesday, recouping the losses in the previous sessions, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 moving above the 6,700 level, following the positive cues from global markets overnight, with gains across most sectors, particularly technology, materials and financial stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 103.90 points or 1.56 percent to 6,753.50, after touching a high of 6,754.20 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 112.90 points or 1.65 percent to 6,965.90. Australian stocks ended significantly lower on Tuesday.

Among major miners, Rio Tinto is gaining almost 2 percent, BHP Group is up almost 1 percent and OZ Minerals is adding more than 2 percent, while Fortescue Metals and Mineral Resources are advancing almost 3 percent each.

Oil stocks are mostly higher. Santos, Woodside Energy and Origin Energy are edging up 0.2 to 0.4 percent each, while Beach energy is losing more than 1 percent.

In the tech space, Zip is soaring more than 9 percent, Xero is surging more than 7 percent, Afterpay owner Block is up more than 6 percent, Appen is gaining almost 6 percent, WiseTech Global is advancing more than 5 percent.

Among the big four banks, National Australia Bank, Westpac and Commonwealth Bank are gaining more than 1 percent each, while ANZ Banking is still in a trading halt.

Among gold miners, Gold Road Resources and Evolution Mining are gaining more than 1 percent each, while Resolute Mining is adding almost 3 percent and Newcrest Mining is advancing almost 2 percent. Northern Star Resources is losing more than 1 percent.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.690 on Wednesday.

On Wall Street, stocks moved sharply higher during trading on Tuesday, more than offsetting the significant downturn seen over the course of the session on Monday. The major averages jumped early in the session and saw further upside as the day progressed.

The major averages ended the session just off their best levels of the day. The Dow surged 754.44 points or 2.4 percent to 31,827.05, the Nasdaq soared 353.10 points or 3.1 percent to 11,713.15 and the S&P 500 spiked 105.84 points or 2.8 percent to 3,936.69.

The major European markets all also showed strong moves to the upside on the day. While the German DAX Index spiked by 2.7 percent, the French CAC 40 Index surged by 1.8 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index jumped by 1.0 percent.

Crude oil futures ended sharply higher Tuesday amid signs of tighter supplies in the global oil market, while the dollar's continued weakness also contributed to the sharp rise in oil prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for August ended higher by $1.62 or 1.6 percent at $104.22 a barrel.