Australian Market Slightly Higher

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is slightly higher on Tuesday after opening slightly lower, extending the gains in the previous two sessions, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 staying above the 7,200 level, following the lack of major cues from global markets overnight, boosted by gains in iron ore and gold mining stocks. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 4.00 points or 0.06 percent to 7,221.40, after touching a high of 7,224.60 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 2.30 points or 0.03 percent to 7,397.30. Australian stocks closed significantly higher on Monday.

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

Oil stocks are mostly lower. Woodside Energy is edging down 0.1 percent and Santos is losing almost 1 percent, while Beach energy is edging up 0.5 percent. Origin Energy is flat. Among tech stocks, Afterpay owner Block is losing almost 1 percent and Appen is declining almost 2 percent, while Zip is gaining more than 1 percent and Xero is edging up 0.5 percent. WiseTech Global is flat.

Gold miners are higher. Newcrest Mining is edging up 0.2 percent, Evolution Mining is gaining almost 1 percent, Resolute Mining is adding more than 2 percent, Gold Road Resources is up 1.5 percent and Northern Star Resources is rising more than 1 percent.

Among the big four banks, Westpac and National Australia Bank are edging up 0.3 percent each, while ANZ Banking is edging down 0.3 percent. Commonwealth Bank is flat.

In other news, shares in Sayona Mining are plunging more than 13 percent after the lithium miner announced the completion of an underwritten institutional placement.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.654 on Tuesday.

The Wall Street was closed on account of Memorial Day holiday on Monday. The shares closed sharply higher on Friday.

The major European markets ended modestly lower with investors largely making cautious moves, focusing on U.S. debt ceiling talks. Germany's DAX and France's CAC 40 ended lower by 0.2% and 0.21%, respectively. The Switzerland market was closed for Pentecost.

Crude oil prices eked out modest gains on Monday after U.S. President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., reached an agreement in principle to raise the debt ceiling and avoid a potentially disastrous default by the U.S. government. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for July settled at $72.94 a barrel, up $0.27 or 0.4 percent.