Australian Market Sharply Higher

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is trading sharply higher on Tuesday, extending the gains in the previous session, following the broadly positive cues from European markets and lack of cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is moving above the 8,400 level, with gains across most sectors led by mining, financial and technology stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 90.90 points or 1.09 percent to 8,438.30, after touching a high of 8,447.40 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 90.60 points or 1.05 percent to 8,685.00. Australian stocks closed notably higher on Monday.

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

Oil stocks are mixed. Origin Energy is losing almost 2 percent and Santos is down almost 1 percent, while Woodside Energy and Beach energy are gaining almost 1 percent each. Among tech stocks, Afterpay owner Block, Appen and Xero are edging up 0.3 to 0.5 percent each, while Zip is advancing almost 4 percent and WiseTech Global is adding more than 1 percent.

Gold miners are mixed. Gold Road Resources and Resolute Mining are gaining more than 1 percent each, while Evolution Mining is edging up 0.1 percent. Newmont and Northern Star resources are edging down 0.1 to 0.5 percent each.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank, ANZ Banking and Westpac are gaining almost 2 percent each, while National Australia Bank is adding almost 3 percent.

In other news, shares in Hub24 are jumping more than 14 percent after the wealth platform reported record quarterly platform net inflows of $5.5 billion.

Shares in Liontown Resources are soaring more than 10 percent after the lithium miner delivered a three-fold increase in spodumene concentrate output following ramp up at Kathleen Valley Lithium Operation.

Shares in Novonix are tumbling more than 6 percent after the battery materials and technology company's CEO Chris Burns decided to step down from the role.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.623 on Tuesday.

On Wall Street, the markets were closed for Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Monday after closing sharply higher on Friday.

Meanwhile, the major European markets moved to the upside on the day. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 gained 0.18 percent, Germany's DAX climbed 0.42 percent and France's CAC 40 closed up 0.31 percent.