Australian Market Modestly Higher

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is modestly higher on Thursday, extending the slight gains in the previous session, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 moving above the 7,400 level to a nine-month high, despite the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight, with gains in miners partially offset by weakness in technology and energy stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 20.10 points or 0.27 percent to 7,413.50, after touching a high of 7,421.10 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 15.50 points or 0.20 percent to 7,625.00. Australian stocks ended slightly higher on Wednesday.

Among major miners, Rio Tinto is gaining almost 2 percent, while Fortescue Metals and BHP Group are adding almost 1 percent. Mineral Resources is edging down 0.5 percent and OZ Minerals is flat.

BHP reported that second-quarter total iron ore production increased 1 percent to 66.90 million tonnes from the prior year. However, 2023 total iron ore production guidance remains unchanged.

Oil stocks are mostly lower. Beach energy is edging down 0.3 percent, Woodside Energy is losing almost 2 percent, Santos is slipping more than 2 percent and Origin Energy is down more than 1 percent.

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block is losing more than 3 percent, Xero is slipping more than 1 percent, Zip is slipping more than 5 percent, Appen is declining almost 2 percent and WiseTech Global is down almost 1 percent.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank, ANZ Banking and Westpac are edging up 0.1 to 0.4 percent each, while National Australia Bank is edging down 0.1 percent. Among gold miners, Northern Star Resources is edging up 0.3 percent, while Newcrest Mining and Evolution Mining are losing almost 1 percent each. Resolute Mining and Gold Road Resources are flat.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.692 on Thursday.

On Wall Street, stocks saw initial strength during trading on Wednesday but moved sharply lower over the course of the session. The major averages all showed notable moves to the downside after ending Tuesday's trading mixed.

The major averages fell to new lows for the session going into the close of trading. The Dow plunged 613.89 points or 01.8 percent to 33,296.96, the Nasdaq slumped 138.10 points or 1.2 percent to 10,957.01 and the S&P 500 tumbled 62.11 points or 1.6 percent to 3,928.86.

Meanwhile, the major European markets turned in a mixed performance on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index inched up by 0.1 percent, the German DAX Index closed just below the unchanged line and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index dipped by 0.3 percent.

Crude oil futures settled lower on Wednesday amid concerns about a possible U.S. recession. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for February ended lower by $0.70 or 0.9 percent at $79.48 a barrel.