Australian Market Sharply Higher

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market sharply higher on Tuesday, recouping most of the losses in the previous session, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 moving to above the 6,700 level, following the broadly positive cues from global markets overnight, led by strong gains in technology, gold miners and financial stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 84.70 points or 1.27 percent to 6,749.10, after touching a high of 6,767.40 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 87.60 points or 1.28 percent to 6,941.90. Australian stocks closed sharply lower on Monday.

Among the major miners, Mineral Resources and OZ Minerals are adding more than 1 percent each, while Fortescue Metals is edging up 0.2 percent and BHP Group is gaining almost 1 percent. Rio Tinto is edging down 0.5 percent after lowering its 2022 iron ore shipments guidance following two unplanned rail outages. Shipments also fell slightly over the third quarter.

Oil stocks are mostly lower. Beach energy and Woodside Energy are edging down 0.5 percent each, while Santos is down almost 1 percent. Origin Energy is gaining almost 1 percent. Among tech stocks, Afterpay owner Block is surging almost 8 percent, Zip is advancing almost 6 percent and Xero is adding almost 3 percent, while Appen and WiseTech Global are gaining more than 3 percent each.

Gold miners are mostly higher. Newcrest Mining is gaining more than 3 percent and Northern Star Resources is advancing 3.5 percent, while Gold Road Resources and Evolution Mining are adding more than 2 percent each, while and. Resolute Mining is flat.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank and National Australia Bank are gaining more than 1 percent each, while Westpac is adding almost 2 percent and ANZ Banking is advancing almost 1 percent.

In other news, shares in St. Barbara are plummeting almost 22 percent after the gold miner cut production guidance and deferred capital expenditures on major projects by a year. In economic news, members of the Reserve Bank of Australia's Monetary Policy Board agreed that it was necessary to again hike its benchmark lending rate in the face of soaring inflation, minutes from the central bank's October 4 meeting revealed on Tuesday.

At the meeting, the RBA raised its benchmark rate by a quarter-point - lifting the cash rate target by 25 basis points to 2.60 percent from 2.35 percent. This was the highest rate since mid-2013. The board also increased the interest rate on exchange settlement balances by 25 basis points to 2.50 percent.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.630 on Tuesday.

On Wall Street, stocks moved sharply higher in early trading on Monday and continued to turn in a strong performance throughout the session. The major averages all posted strong gains on the day, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq leading the way higher.

The major averages moved roughly sideways in afternoon trading, hovering near their best levels of the day. While the Nasdaq surged 354.41 points or 3.4 percent to 10,675.80, the S&P 500 shot up 94.88 points or 2.7 percent to 3,677.95 and the Dow jumped 550.99 points or 1.9 percent to 30,185.82.

The major European markets all also moved to the upside on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index advanced by 0.9 percent, the German DAX Index and the French CAC 40 Index jumped by 1.7 percent and 1.8 percent, respectively.

Crude oil futures slumped on Monday, extending losses from the previous session as worries about a recession weighed on the outlook for energy demand and pushed down oil prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for November eased $0.15 or 0.2 percent at $85.46 a barrel.