Australian Market Modestly Higher

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is modestly higher on Monday, extending the gains in the previous five sessions, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 staying just below the 7,300 level, despite the broadly negative cues from Wall Street on Friday, aided by gains in gold miners and financial stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 19.90 points or 0.27 percent to 7,271.10, after touching a high of 7,277.90 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 15.80 points or 0.21 percent to 7,467.00. Australian stocks closed sharply higher on Friday.

Among the major miners, BHP Group and Rio Tinto are losing almost 1 percent each, while Mineral Resources is down more than 1 percent and Fortescue Metals is edging down 0.1 percent.

Oil stocks are mixed. Santos and Woodside Energy are edging up 0.2 to 0.3 percent each, while Beach energy is edging down 0.2 percent. Origin Energy is flat.

Among tech stocks, Zip is losing almost 1 percent and Appen is down almost 2 percent, while Afterpay owner Block and WiseTech Global are gaining almost 1 percent each. Xero is edging up 0.3 1 percent.

Gold miners are mostly higher. Gold Road Resources and Newcrest Mining are gaining almost 1 percent each, while Resolute Mining is adding more than 2 percent and Evolution Mining is up more than 1 percent. Northern Star Resources is flat.

Among the big four banks, Westpac and National Australia Bank are edging up 0.3 to 0.4 percent each, while ANZ Banking and Commonwealth Bank are gaining almost 1 percent each.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.685 on Monday.

On Wall Street, stocks turned in a lackluster performance throughout much of the trading session on Friday before coming under pressure in the latter part of the session. The major averages all moved to the downside, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq leading the way lower.

The major averages finished the session just off their worst levels of the day. The Nasdaq slid 93.25 points or 0.7 percent to 13,689.57, the S&P 500 fell 16.25 points or 0.4 percent to 4,409.59 and the Dow dipped 108.94 points or 0.3 percent to 34,299.12.

Meanwhile, the major European markets moved to the upside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index surged by 1.3 percent, the German DAX Index rose by 0.4 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index edged up by 0.2 percent.

Crude oil prices climbed higher on Friday amid hopes about higher refinery demand and that further stimulus in China will help boost growth in the world's second largest economy. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures ended higher by $1.16 or 1.6 percent at $71.78 a barrel.