Australian Market Modestly Higher

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock Market is trading modestly higher on Wednesday, extending the gains in the previous three sessions, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 staying above the 7,200 level, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight, with gains in technology and financial stocks partially offset by weakness in gold miners and energy stocks amid tumbling gold and crude oil prices.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 20.30 points or 0.28 percent to 7,255.60, after touching a high of 7,256.80 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 20.60 points or 0.28 percent to 7,467.00. Australian stocks ended notably higher on Tuesday.

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

Oil stocks are mostly lower. Santos and Woodside Energy are losing almost 1 percent each, while Beach energy is declining almost 2 percent and Origin Energy is edging down 0.4 percent. In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block is gaining more than 1 percent, Zip is adding more than 3 percent and WiseTech Global is edging up 0.2 percent, while Xero is edging down 0.1 percent and Appen is plunging more than 11 percent.

Among the big four banks, National Australia Bank, ANZ Banking and Commonwealth Bank are edging up 0.3 to 0.4 percent each, while Westpac is gaining almost 1 percent. Among gold miners, Newmont is declining almost 3 percent, Gold Road Resources is sliding more than 2 percent, Resolute Mining is losing almost 2 percent and Evolution Mining is down more than 1 percent. Northern Star Resources is flat.

In other news, shares in Sigma Healthcare are skyrocketing more than 36 percent after the pharmacy retailer revealed plans to merge with Chemist Warehouse.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.656 on Wednesday.

On the Wall Street, stocks saw some further upside during trading on Tuesday after moving mostly higher over the past few sessions. The major averages recovered from an early pullback and climbed firmly into positive territory as the day progressed.

The major averages once again finished the session at their best closing levels in well over a year. The Dow climbed 173.01 points or 0.5 percent to 36,577.94, the Nasdaq advanced 100.91 points or 0.7 percent to 14,533.40 and the S&P 500 rose 21.26 points or 0.5 percent to 4,643.70.

Meanwhile, the major European markets moved slightly lower over the course of the session. While the French CAC 40 Index edged down by 0.1 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index and the German DAX Index both closed just below the unchanged line.

Crude oil prices fell to a six-month low Tuesday amid lingering concerns about the outlook for fuel demand and worries about possible oversupply in the market. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for January ended down $2.71 or 3.8 percent at $68.61 a barrel.