Australian Market Significantly Higher

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is trading significantly higher on Monday, adding to gains in the previous session, following the broadly positive cues from global markets on Friday. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index is moving to a tad near the 8,000.00 mark, with gains across most sectors led by gold miners and technology stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 72.90 points or 0.92 percent to 7,994.20, after touching a high of 8,000.00 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 76.20 points or 0.94 percent to 8,229.60. Australian stocks closed significantly higher on Friday.

Among the major miners, Rio Tinto and Mineral Resources are gaining more than 1 percent each, while BHP Group and Fortescue Metals are adding almost 1 percent each. Oil stocks are higher. Beach energy is edging up 0.1 percent, while Origin Energy, Santos and Woodside Energy are gaining more than 1 percent each.

Among tech stocks, Afterpay owner Block is losing more than 1 percent, Appen is gaining almost 1 percent and Zip is surging more than 6 percent, while WiseTech Global and Xero are adding more than 1 percent each.

Gold miners are mostly higher. Newmont and Northern Star Resources are gaining almost 2 percent each, while Gold Road Resources and Evolution Mining are adding almost 1 percent each. Resolute Mining is surging almost 6 percent.

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

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.657 on Monday.

On Wall Street, stocks moved sharply higher during trading on Friday, following the mixed performance seen in the previous session. The major averages all showed strong moves to the upside, with the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 bouncing off their lowest closing levels in over a month.

The major averages ended the day off their best levels of the session but still firmly in positive territory. The Dow surged 654.27 points or 1.6 percent to 40,589.34, the Nasdaq shot up 176.16 points or 1.0 percent to 17,357.88 and the S&P 500 jumped 59.88 points or 1.1 percent to 5,459.10.

The major European markets all also moved to the upside on the day. While the German DAX Index climbed by 0.7 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index and the French CAC 40 Index both jumped by 1.2 percent.

Crude oil prices fell on Friday amid concerns about the outlook for demand due to the economic slowdown in China, while hopes for a ceasefire in Gaza also weighed. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September ended down $1.12 or 1.4 percent at $77.16 a barrel. WTI crude futures lost 1.9 percent in the week.