Australian Market Significantly Higher

(RTTNews) - Australian shares are trading significantly higher on Wednesday, extending the gains in the previous four sessions, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 moving a tad above the 8,000 mark, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight, with gains across most sectors led by mining and financial stocks. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 60.30 points or 0.76 percent to 8,002.80, after touching a high of 8,004.20 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 60.50 points or 0.74 percent to 8,227.20. Australian stocks ended slightly higher on Tuesday.

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

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

In the tech space, Appen is advancing almost 2 percent, WiseTech Global is gaining almost 3 percent, Xero is edging up 0.4 percent and Zip is adding more than 2 percent, while Afterpay owner Block is losing more than 1 percent.

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

Among gold miners, Evolution Mining and Northern Star Resources are edging up 0.1 to 0.2 percent each, while Resolute Mining and Newmont are gaining more than 2 percent each. Gold Road Resources is adding more than 1 percent.

In economic news, Australia's monthly Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased 2.4 percent on year in February 2025, down from a four-month high of 2.5 percent in the previous month, and below market expectations of 2.5 percent. This marked the lowest inflation rate since last November. The annual trimmed mean inflation edged down to 2.7 percent from 2.8 percent in January.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.630 on Wednesday.

On the Wall Street, stocks showed a lack of direction over the course of the trading day on Tuesday following the rally seen in the previous session. The major averages bounced back and forth across the unchanged line before eventually closing in positive territory for the third straight day.

The Nasdaq climbed 83.26 points or 0.5 percent to 18,271.86, the S&P 500 rose 9.08 points or 0.2 percent to 5,776.65 and the Dow inched up 4.18 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 42,587.50.

The major European markets also all moved to the upside on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index rose by 0.3 percent, the French CAC 40 Index and the German DAX Index both jumped by 1.1 percent.

Crude oil prices dipped on Tuesday on reports Russia and Ukraine have agreed to a partial ceasefire covering the Black Sea. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for May closed lower by $0.11 at $69.00 a barrel.