Australian Market Notably Higher

(RTTNews) - Adding to the gains in the previous two sessions, the Australian stock market is notably higher on Tuesday, following the broadly positive cues from global markets overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is moving above the 7,500 level, with gains across most sectors led by technology and financial stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 37.90 points or 0.51 percent to 7,514.50, after touching a high of 7,530.20 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 39.30 points or 0.51 percent to 7, 741.60. Australian stocks closed significantly higher on Monday.

Among the major miners, Fortescue Metals and BHP Group are gaining almost 1 percent each, while Mineral Resources is advancing almost 3 percent. Rio Tinto is edging down 0.4 percent.

Oil stocks are mixed. Woodside Energy and Santos are edging up 0.1 to 0.5 percent each, while Beach energy is losing almost 1 percent. Origin Energy is flat.

Among tech stocks, WiseTech Global is gaining more than 2 percent, Appen is advancing more than 4 percent and Afterpay owner Block is edging up 0.4 percent, while Xero is losing almost 1 percent and Zip is declining more than 8 percent.

Gold miners are mostly higher. Gold Road Resources is edging up 0.4 percent, Resolute Mining is gaining almost 1 percent and Newmont is adding almost 2 percent, while Evolution Mining is losing almost 2 percent and Northern Star resources is down almost 1 percent.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank, ANZ Banking and Westpac are gaining almost 1 percent each, while National Australia Bank is adding more than 1 percent.

In other news, shares in Judo Bank are soaring almost 17 percent after posting a 24 percent jump in profit before tax of $67 million for the first half.

Shares in IDP Education are slipping almost 8 percent after Canada announced changes to its intake of international students.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.658 on Tuesday.

On Wall Street, stocks closed higher on Monday amid optimism about the outlook for earnings. Stocks initially extended the rally seen to close out the previous week amid optimism about the outlook for earnings from major tech firms.

The major averages all ended at new highs. The Dow settled at 38,001.81, gaining 138.01 points or 0.36 percent, the S&P 500 ended with a gain of 10.62 points or 0.22 percent, at 4,850.43 and the Nasdaq settled at 15,360.29, gaining 49.32 points or 0.32 percent.

The major European markets also moved to the upside on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index is up by 0.5 percent, the French CAC 40 Index and the German DAX Index are both up by 0.7 percent.

Crude oil prices rose sharply on Monday amid concerns about possible supply disruptions in the Middle East, and extreme cold weather in North America. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for February settled at $75.19 a barrel, gaining $1.78 or about 2.4 percent.