Australian Market Notably Higher

(RTTNews) - Australian shares are trading notably higher on Wednesday, extending the gains in the previous session, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 moving above the 8,400 level, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight, with gains across most sectors led by mining and technology stocks. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 46.50 points or 0.56 percent to 8,420.50, after touching a high of 8,431.50 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 54.70 points or 0.63 percent to 8,688.10. Australian stocks ended notably higher on Tuesday.

Among major miners, BHP Group is gaining more than 1 percent, Rio Tinto is gaining almost 2 percent, Mineral Resources is adding more than 4 percent and Fortescue Metals is advancing more than 3 percent.

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

In the tech space, Appen is advancing more than 3 percent, WiseTech Global is adding more than 1 percent and Xero is edging up 0.2 percent, while Zip is losing almost 1 percent and Afterpay owner Block is declining almost 5 percent.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank, ANZ Banking, National Australia Bank and Westpac are edging up 0.3 to 0.4 percent each.

Among gold miners, Evolution Mining, Resolute Mining and Newmont are edging up 0.4 to 0.5 percent each, while Northern Star Resources is adding almost 1 percent and Gold Road Resources are advancing more than 1 percent.

In other news, shares in Tower are surging almost 6 percent after the insurer upgraded its underlying net profit after tax guidance.

Shares in Insignia Financial jumped more than 7 percent after the financial services firm received a A$3.07 billion takeover offer from Brookfield.

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

On the Wall Street, stocks moved mostly higher during trading on Tuesday, largely offsetting the weakness seen in the previous session. The major averages all moved to the upside on the day, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq leading the charge.

The major averages finished the session just off their best levels of the day. The Nasdaq jumped 262.06 points or 1.4 percent to 19,654.02, the S&P 500 climbed 43.31 points or 0.7 percent to 6,037.88 and the Dow rose 134.13 points or 0.3 percent to 44,556.04.

Meanwhile, the major European markets turned in a mixed performance on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index slipped 0.2 percent, the German DAX Index rose 0.4 percent and the French CAC 40 Index climbed 0.7 percent.

Crude oil prices fell on Tuesday as Trump agreed to postpone levies on Canada and Mexico's exports to the United States. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March settled at $72.70 a barrel, down $0.46 or about $0.63 percent.