Australian Market Notably Higher

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is notably higher on Friday, extending to the gains in the previous two sessions, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is staying well above the 8,200 level, with gains across most sectors led by mining and energy stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 38.30 points or 0.47 percent to 8,259.20, after touching a high of 8,281.40 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 44.10 points or 0.52 percent to 8,515.60. Australian stocks closed modestly higher on Tuesday prior to the holiday on Wednesday and Thursday.

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

Oil stocks are mostly higher. Woodside Energy is gaining almost 1 percent, Santos is edging up 0.5 percent and Beach energy is adding more than 1 percent, while Origin Energy is edging down 0.4 percent.

Among tech stocks, Zip is gaining more than 2 percent, Afterpay-owner Block is adding almost 2 percent and Appen is soaring more than 11 percent, while WiseTech Global is losing almost 1 percent and Xero is edging down 0.4 percent.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank and ANZ Banking are edging up 0.4 percent each, while Westpac and National Australia Bank are gaining almost 1 percent each. Gold miners are mostly higher. Evolution Mining and Northern Star Resources are gaining almost 1 percent each, while Resolute Mining is advancing 2.5 percent and Gold Road Resources is adding almost 1 percent. Newmont is edging down 0.4 percent.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.622 on Friday.

On Wall Street, stocks regained ground over the course of the trading day on Thursday after moving to the downside early in the session. The major averages climbed well off their early lows and spent much of the day lingering near the unchanged line.

The major averages eventually ended the day narrowly mixed. While the Dow crept up 28.77 points or 0.1 percent to 43,325.80, the Nasdaq slipped 10.77 points or 0.1 percent to 20,020.37 and the S&P 500 edged down 2.45 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 6,037.59.

Meanwhile, the major European markets all remained closed on the day in observance of Boxing Day.

Crude oil prices failed to hold early gains and settled lower on Thursday amid uncertainty about the outlook for global oil demand, and likely excess supply in the market. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for February settled lower by $0.48 or nearly 0.7 percent at $69.62 a barrel.