Australian Market Slightly Higher

(RTTNews) - The Australian market is trading slightly higher on Thursday, reversing the slight losses in the previous session, despite the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is staying below the 7,800 level, with gains mining and energy stocks partially offset by weakness in technology and financial stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 9.80 points or 0.13 percent to 7,768.70, after touching a high of 7,775.00 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 8.10 points or 0.10 percent to 7,969.80. Australian stocks ended slightly lower on Wednesday.

Among major miners, Mineral Resources is advancing more than 1 percent, Fortescue Metals is edging up 0.3 percent, BHP Group is gaining almost 1 percent and Rio Tinto is adding almost 2 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly higher. Beach energy is rising almost 3 percent, Santos is gaining more than 2 percent, Origin Energy is edging up 0.5 percent and Woodside Energy is advancing almost 2 percent.

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block is edging down 0.3 percent, WiseTech Global is losing almost 2 percent, Appen is declining more than 2 percent and Zip is slipping almost 3 percent. Xero is flat.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank, Westpac, National Australia Bank and ANZ Banking are edging down 0.1 to 0.5 percent each.

Among gold miners, Northern Star Resources is adding almost 2 percent, Evolution Mining is gaining almost 3 percent, Gold Road Resources is advancing more than 1 percent and Resolute Mining is surging more than 6 percent, while Newmont is edging down 0.3 percent.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.637 on Thursday.

On Wall Street, stocks moved sharply lower early in the session on Wednesday and saw even further downside over the course of the trading day. The major averages all posted steep losses, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq under particularly heavy selling pressure.

The major averages climbed off their worst levels going into the end of the day but remained firmly negative. The Nasdaq plunged 516.01 points or 3.1 percent to 16,307.16, the S&P 500 tumbled 120.93 points or 2.2 percent to 5,275.70 and the Dow slumped 699.57 points or 1.7 percent to 39,669.39.

Meanwhile, the major European markets turned mixed over the course of the session after seeing early weakness. While the French CAC 40 Index edged down by 0.1 percent, the German DAX Index and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index both rose by 0.3 percent.

Crude oil prices showed a substantial move back to the upside during trading on Wednesday after ending the previous session modestly lower. West Texas Intermediate crude for May delivery rose $1.14 or 1.9 percent to $62.47 a barrel.