Australian Market Slightly Higher

(RTTNews) - Recouping some of the losses in the previous session, the Australian stock market is slightly higher on Tuesday, following the mixed cues from global markets overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is staying a tad above the 7,700 level, with gains in gold miners, technology and financial stocks nearly offset by losses in major iron ore miners and energy stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 4.00 points or 0.05 percent to 7,708.20, after touching a high of 7,736.70 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 2.60 points or 0.03 percent to 7,966.20. Australian stocks closed sharply lower on Monday.

Among the major miners, Fortescue Metals is losing almost 1 percent and BHP Group is declining more than 1 percent, while Mineral Resources is adding 1.5 percent and Rio Tinto is edging up 0.2 percent.

Oil stocks are lower. Origin Energy is edging down 0.5 percent, while Beach energy, Santos and Woodside Energy are losing almost 1 percent each. Among tech stocks, WiseTech Global is edging up 0.4 percent, Zip is surging more than 6 percent, Afterpay owner Block is gaining almost 3 percent and Appen is skyrocketing more than 19 percent. Xero is flat.

Gold miners are higher. Evolution Mining is gaining more than 2 percent, Newmont is advancing almost 4 percent, Northern Star resources is adding almost 3 percent, Resolute Mining is up almost 2 percent and Gold Road Resources is rising more than 1 percent.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank and ANZ Banking are gaining almost 1 percent each, while Westpac is adding more than 1 percent and National Australia Bank is edging up 0.3 percent.

In other news, shares in Alumina are jumping almost 10 percent after US aluminium producer Alcoa's $3.3 billion all-stock bid was formalized.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.662 on Tuesday.

On Wall Street, stocks saw further downside in early trading on Monday after coming under pressure over the course of the previous session. The major averages regained ground over the course of the trading day, however, with the Dow closing modestly higher.

While the Dow inched up 46.97 points or 0.1 percent to 38,769.66 after falling nearly 240 points in early trading, the S&P 500 edged down 5.75 points or 0.1 percent to 5,117.94 and the Nasdaq fell 65.84 points or 0.4 percent to 16,019.27.

The major European markets also finished the day mixed. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index inched up by 0.1 percent, the French CAC 40 Index edged down by 0.1 percent and the German DAX Index fell by 0.4 percent.

Crude oil prices settled lower on Monday amid concerns about the outlook for demand from China and on caution ahead key U.S. consumer price inflation data. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April ended down $0.08 or 0.1 percent at $77.93 a barrel, settling lower for the third consecutive session.