Australian Market Sharply Higher

(RTTNews) - Extending the gains the previous five sessions, the Australian stock market is sharply higher on Friday, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is moving well above the 7,900 level, with gains across most sectors led by miners and technology stocks. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 101.50 points or 1.29 percent to 7,967.00, after touching a high of 7,976.90 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 102.90 points or 1.27 percent to 8,186.70. Australian markets ended modestly higher on Thursday.

Among major miners, BHP Group and Fortescue Metals are gaining more than 2 percent each, while Mineral Resources is advancing more than 3 percent and Rio Tinto is adding almost 2 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly higher. Origin Energy is edging up 0.1 percent and Woodside Energy is adding more than 2 percent, while Beach energy and Santos are advancing more than 1 percent each.

Among tech stocks, Afterpay owner Block is advancing 3.5 percent, Xero is adding more than 2 percent and WiseTech Global is gaining almost 2 percent, while Zip is rising more than 4 percent and Appen is skyrocketing more than 13 percent.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank is advancing almost 2 percent, while National Australia Bank, ANZ Banking and Westpac are gaining more than 1 percent each. Gold miners are mostly higher. Evolution Mining is gaining almost 3 percent and Newmont is edging up 0.4 percent, while Gold Road Resources, Resolute Mining and Northern Star Resources are gaining almost 1 percent each.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.662 on Friday.

On Wall Street, stocks showed another significant move to the upside during trading on Thursday after trending higher over the past several sessions. The major averages all posted strong gains, with the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 extending their winning streaks to six days.

The major averages pulled back off their best levels going into the close but remained sharply higher. The Nasdaq soared 401.89 points or 2.3 percent to 17,594.50, the S&P 500 surged 88.01 points or 1.6 percent to 5,543.22 and the Dow jumped 554.67 points or 1.4 percent to 40,563.06.

The major European markets also moved to the upside on the day. While the German DAX Index surged by 1.7 percent, the French CAC 40 Index jumped by 1.2 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index increased by 0.8 percent.

Crude oil prices climbed higher on Thursday as upbeat U.S. retail sales and jobless claims data raised optimism about the outlook for demand. Concerns about possible supply disruptions due to the tensions in the Middle East also contributed to the increase in oil prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September ended higher by $1.18 or about 1.53% at $78.16 a barrel.