Australian Market Significantly Higher

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is significantly higher on Monday, recouping the losses in the previous session, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 moving above the 6,800 level, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street on Friday, with strong gains in technology stocks, which mirrored their peers on Nasdaq amid solid earnings news among technology firms.

Traders are also looking ahead to the Reserve Bank of Australia's policy decision on Tuesday, where the RBA is expected to maintain plans to deliver smaller rate hikes despite persistent inflationary pressures.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 63.20 points or 0.93 percent to 6,848.90, after touching a high of 6,869.20 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 67.60 points or 0.97 percent to 7,041.10. Australian stocks closed significantly lower on Friday.

Among the major miners, Rio Tinto is edging down 0.3 percent, while BHP Group and OZ Minerals are losing almost 1 percent each. Fortescue Metals is gaining almost 1 percent and Mineral Resources is advancing almost 2 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly higher. Beach energy is gaining almost 1 percent and Origin Energy is advancing more than 3 percent, while Woodside Energy and Santos is edging down 0.1 to 0.3 percent each.

Among tech stocks, Afterpay owner Block is gaining almost 4 percent, WiseTech Global is adding more than 3 percent and Xero is advancing more than 4 percent, while Appen is edging down 0.4 percent and Zip is flat.

Gold miners are weak. Gold Road Resources is losing more than 1 percent, Newcrest Mining is declining more than 2 percent, Northern Star Resources is down almost 1 percent and Resolute Mining is slipping almost 4 percent, while Evolution Mining is edging up 0.5 percent.

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

In other news, shares in EML payments are plummeting 26 percent after the payments technology company updated investors on issues regulatory issues in Ireland and the U.K. In economic news, the value of retail sales in Australia was up a seasonally adjusted 0.6 percent on month in September, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Monday - coming in at A$35.096 billion.That was in line with expectations and unchanged from the previous month's reading. Individually, sales were up for food, clothing, cafes and other, while they were down for household goods and department stores. By territory, sales were up everywhere except South Australia - down 0.2 percent. On a yearly basis, retail sales were up 17.9 percent.

Total private sector credit in Australia was up 0.7 percent on month in September, the Reserve Bank of Australia said on Monday - slowing from 0.8 percent in August. On a yearly basis, credit jumped 9.4 percent - accelerating from 9.3 percent in the previous month.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.641 on Monday.

On Wall Street, stocks moved sharply higher over the course of the trading day on Friday following the mixed performance seen in Thursday's session. The major averages all showed strong moves to the upside, with the Dow reaching a two-month closing high.

The major averages reached new highs going into the close of trading. The Dow surged 828.52 points or 2.6 percent to 32,861.80, the Nasdaq shot up 309.78 points or 2.9 percent to 11,102.45 and the S&P 500 jumped 93.76 points or 2.5 percent to 3,901.06.

Meanwhile, the major European markets turned in a mixed performance on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index fell by 0.4 percent, the German DAX Index inched up by 0.2 percent and the French CAC 40 Index rose by 0.5 percent.

Crude oil prices drifted lower on Friday as worries about the outlook for energy demand resurfaced due to increased Covid-19 restrictions in parts of China. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December slumped $1.18 or 1.3 percent at $87.90 a barrel. WTI crude futures gained more than 3 percent in the week.