Australian Market Significantly Higher

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is currently trading significantly higher on Monday, extending the gains in the previous session, following the mixed cues from Wall Street on Friday. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 staying well above the 7,700.00 level, with gains is iron miners, energy and financial stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 60.80 points or 0.79 percent to 7,762.50, after touching a high of 7,779.00 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 57.20 points or 0.72 percent to 8,028.00. Australian stocks closed significantly higher on Friday.

Among the major miners, Rio Tinto is gaining almost 1 percent, while BHP Group, Fortescue Metals and Mineral Resources are adding more than 1 percent each. Oil stocks are mostly higher. Beach energy and Santos are gaining almost 1 percent each, while Origin Energy is adding almost 2 percent and Woodside Energy is advancing more than 1 percent.

Among tech stocks, Appen is gaining almost 2 percent and Zip is adding more than 2 percent, while Afterpay owner Block is losing 1.5 percent and WiseTech Global is down more than 1 percent. Xero is flat.

Gold miners are mixed. Gold Road Resources is losing almost 1 percent and Resolute Mining is declining almost 2 percent, while Evolution Mining, Northern Star Resources and Newmont are edging up 0.1 to 0.4 percent each.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank is gaining almost 1 percent and Westpac is advancing almost 2 percent, while ANZ Banking and National Australia Bank are adding more than 1 percent each.

In other news, shares in Lovisa are falling 7 percent after the discount jewellery retailer appointed managing director of Smiggle John Cheston as its next chief executive to replace current CEO Victor Herrero who will depart the company in a year.

Shares in Galileo Mining are soaring 16 percent after it divested almost a third of its lithium stake in the multi-metal Norseman project, as part of joint venture with miner Mineral Resources.

Shares in APM Human Services are jumping 11 percent after news that the company is set to be bought out by Chicago's Madison Dearborn Partners for $1.45 per share.

In economic news, the manufacturing sector in Australia continued to contract, albeit at a slightly slower pace, the latest survey from Judo Bank revealed on Monday with a manufacturing PMI score of 49.7. That's up marginally from 49.6 in April, although it remains beneath the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.666 on Monday.

On Wall Street, stock indexes all rallied going into the close of trading on Friday after turning in a mixed performance throughout much of the session. The Dow showed a substantial move to the upside, bouncing off its lowest closing level in almost a month.

The Dow surged 574.84 points or 1.5 percent to 38,686.32 and the S&P 500 advanced 42.03 points or 0.8 percent to 5,277.51, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq ended the day down 2.06 points or less than a tenth of a percent at 16,735.02, but showed a substantial recovery after tumbling by as much as 1.7 percent earlier in the session.

Meanwhile, the major European markets all moved to the upside on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index rose by 0.5 percent, the French CAC 40 Index crept up by 0.2 percent and the German DAX Index closed just above the unchanged line.

Crude oil prices fell on Friday, extending losses to a third straight day amid concerns about the outlook for demand - although optimism over the extension of OPEC production cuts limited the downside. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for July slipped $0.92 at $76.99 a barrel.