Australian Market Notably Higher

(RTTNews) - Australian shares are trading notably higher on Wednesday, reversing the losses in the previous session, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is moving well above the 8,400 level, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight, with gains across most sectors led by technology and financial stocks. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 47.10 points or 0.56 percent to 8,446.20, after touching a high of 8,441.60 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 52.80 points or 0.61 percent to 8,697.30. Australian stocks ended slightly lower on Tuesday.

Among major miners, BHP Group is losing more than 1 percent and Rio Tinto is declining almost 2 percent, while Mineral Resources and Fortescue Metals are edging up 0.1 to 0.5 percent each.

Oil stocks are higher. Woodside Energy and Beach energy are gaining more than 1 percent each, while Santos and Origin Energy are edging up 0.1 to 0.5 percent each.

In the tech space, Appen is gaining 4.5 percent, WiseTech Global is advancing 3.5 percent, Xero is adding more than 2 percent and Zip is up more than 1 percent. Afterpay owner Block is in a trading halt.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank and National Australia Bank are edging up 0.3 to 0.5 percent each, while ANZ Banking and Westpac are gaining almost 1 percent each.

Among gold miners, Evolution Mining and Northern Star Resources are gaining almost 1 percent each, while Newmont is edging up 0.5 percent and Resolute Mining is adding almost 3 percent. Gold Road Resources is edging down 0.2 percent.

In other news, shares in Boss Energy are soaring more than 13 percent after the uranium miner revealed a strong operational performance from its Honeymoon project.

In economic news, Australia's annual inflation rate fell to 2.4 percent in fourth quarter from 2.8 percent in the third quarter, less than market consensus of 2.5 percent. It was the lowest reading since first quarter of 2021.

Consumer Price Index (CPI) in Australia increased by 2.5 percent on year in December 2024, matching forecasts and accelerating from a 2.3 percent rise in the previous month. This was the highest since August. Excluding volatile items and travel, the CPI rose by 2.7 percent, easing from the highest reading in three months of 2.8 percent in November.

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

On the Wall Street, stocks showed a strong move back to the upside during trading on Tuesday after seeing considerable weakness in the previous session. The tech-heavy Nasdaq led the way higher after posting a particularly steep loss on Monday.

The Nasdaq surged 391.75 points or 2.0 percent to 19,733.59, partly offsetting the 3.1 percent plunge seen during yesterday's session. The S&P 500 also jumped 55.42 points or 0.9 percent to 6,067.70, while the narrower Dow rose 136.77 points or 0.3 percent to 44,850.35.

Meanwhile, the major European markets ended the day mixed. While the French CAC 40 Index slipped 0.1 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index rose 0.4 percent and the German DAX Index climbed 0.7 percent.

Crude oil prices climbed higher on Tuesday amid disruptions to supply from Libya as protesters prevented tankers from loading at the country's two major ports. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for February closed higher by $0.60 or about 0.82 percent at $73.77 a barrel.