Australian Market Notably Higher

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is currently trading notably higher on Monday, snapping a three-session losing streak, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street on Friday. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index is moving above the 8,100.00 level, with gains across most sectors led by technology and financial stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 45.00 points or 0.56 percent to 8,112.00, after touching a high of 8,130.40 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 46.70 points or 0.56 percent to 8,363.40. Australian stocks closed sharply lower on Friday.

Among the major miners, BHP Group and Rio Tinto are edging down 0.4 percent each, while Fortescue Metals is edging up 0.5 percent and Mineral Resources is gaining more than 1 percent. Oil stocks are mostly higher. Woodside Energy and Santos are edging up 0.2 to 0.3 percent each, while Origin Energy is gaining almost 1 percent. Beach energy is flat.

Among tech stocks, Afterpay owner Block is gaining more than 2 percent, Xero is adding almost 1 percent, Appen is advancing almost 7 percent and Zip is surging more than 6 percent, while WiseTech Global is edging down 0.4 percent.

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

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank, Westpac and ANZ Banking are gaining more than 1 percent each, while National Australia Bank is adding almost 1 percent.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.625 on Monday.

On Wall Street, stocks moved sharply higher over the course of the trading day on Friday after ending the previous session little changed. The major averages recovered from initial weakness and climbed firmly into positive territory as the day progressed.

The Dow surged 498.02 points or 1.2 percent to 42,840.26, adding to the slim gain posted in Thursday's session, when the blue chip index snapped a ten-day losing streak. The tech-heavy Nasdaq also jumped 199.83 points or 1.0 percent to 19,572.60 and the S&P 500 shot up 63.77 points or 1.1 percent to 5,930.85.

Meanwhile, European stocks climbed well off their worst levels but still ended the day modestly lower. While the German DAX Index fell by 0.4 percent, the French CAC 40 Index and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index both slipped by 0.3 percent.

Crude oil prices settled higher on Friday as the dollar came off two-year highs after soft PCE readings eased concerns about the outlook for interest rate cuts. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures perked $0.08 or about 0.1 percent to $69.46 a barrel. Oil futures shed 2.5 percent in the week.