Australian Market Significantly Higher

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is significantly higher on Friday, extending the gains in the previous three sessions, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 moving above the 6,900 level, following the broadly positive cues from global markets overnight, with gains across most sectors, particularly resources, energy and technology stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 59.50 points or 0.86 percent to 6,949.20, after touching a high of 6,973.60 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 58.90 points or 0.83 percent to 7,174.80. Australian markets ended significantly higher on Thursday.

Among major miners, Rio Tinto and OZ Minerals are gaining more than 1 percent each, while BHP Group is adding more than 2 percent, Mineral Resources is advancing almost 5 percent and Fortescue Metals is flat.

Oil stocks are higher. Origin Energy is gaining almost 2 percent and Santos is advancing more than 2 percent, while Beach energy and Woodside Energy are adding more than 1 percent each.

Among tech stocks, WiseTech Global and Xero are gaining almost 2 percent each, while Afterpay owner Block is adding almost 3 percent. Appen is flat and Zip is plunging more than 10 percent. Among the big four banks, National Australia Bank, Commonwealth Bank and Westpac are gaining almost 1 percent each, while ANZ Banking is edging up 0.5 percent.

Gold miners are higher. Northern Star Resources and Gold Road Resources are gaining more than 2 percent each, while Newcrest Mining is adding more than 1 percent, Resolute Mining is up almost 2 percent and Evolution Mining is advancing almost 3 percent.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.700 on Friday.

On Wall Street, stocks showed a substantial turnaround over the course of the trading session on Thursday, recovering from an early move to the downside to end the day sharply higher. The major averages added to the strong gains posted on Wednesday to reach their best closing levels in well over a month.

The major averages pulled back off their highs of the session going into the close but remained firmly positive. The Dow jumped 332.04 points or 1 percent to 32,529.63, the Nasdaq shot up 130.17 points or 1.1 percent to 12,162.59 and the S&P 500 surged 48.82 points or 1.2 percent to 4,072.43.

The major European markets also moved to the upside over the course of the session. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index closed just below the unchanged line, the German DAX Index advanced by 0.9 percent and the French CAC 40 Index jumped by 1.3 percent.

Crude oil futures settled lower on Thursday as worries about the outlook for energy demand due to slowing global economic growth weighed on prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September ended lower by $0.84 or 0.9 percent at $96.42 a barrel.