Australian Market Slightly Higher

(RTTNews) - Extending the gains in the previous two sessions, the Australian stock market is trading slightly higher on Tuesday after opening in the red, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is staying above the 7,800 level, with gains across most sectors led by gold miners and technology stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 0.80 points or 0.27 percent to 7,814.50, after touching a high of 7,818.80 and a low of 7,801.60 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 1.00 points or 0.10 percent to 8,029.50. Australian stocks closed notably higher on Monday.

Among the major miners, BHP Group and Rio Tinto are edging up 0.1 to 0.2 percent each, while Mineral Resources is losing almost 3 percent. Fortescue Metals is flat.

Oil stocks are mostly higher. Woodside Energy and Origin Energy are edging up 0.4 percent each, while Beach energy is gaining more than 1 percent and Santos is adding almost 1 percent.

Among tech stocks, Appen is edging up 0.4 percent and Xero is gaining almost 1 percent, while Zip is losing almost 1 percent, Afterpay owner Block is declining more than 1 percent and WiseTech Global is slipping almost 3 percent. Gold miners are mostly higher. Gold Road Resources is gaining 3.5 percent, Northern Star resources is adding almost 3 percent and Resolute Mining is surging almost 5 percent, while Evolution Mining and Newmont are advancing more than 2 percent each.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank and National Australia Bank are edging up 0.3 to 0.4 percent each, while Westpac and ANZ Banking are gaining almost 1 percent each.

In other news, shares in Temple & Webster are skyrocketing more than 23 percent after the online retailer posted record revenues for the 2024 financial year, up 26 percent on the prior year.

Shares in Seek are tumbling more than 9 percent after lower job ads across the region hit its bottom line.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.658 on Tuesday.

On Wall Street, stocks fluctuated over the course of the trading session on Monday before eventually ending the day little changed. The major averages bounced back and forth across the unchanged line and finished the session narrowly mixed.

While the Dow dipped 140.53 points or 0.4 percent to 39,357.01, the S&P 500 inched up 0.23 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 5,344.39 and the Nasdaq rose 35.31 points or 0.2 percent to 16,780.61.

The major European markets also turned in a mixed performance on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index fell by 0.3 percent, the German DAX Index closed just above the unchanged line and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index rose by 0.5 percent.

Crude oil prices rose sharply on Monday as possibility of disruptions in supply due to escalating tensions in the Middle East outweighed OPEC's monthly report that lowered the demand forecast for 2024. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September ended up $3.22 or about 4.2 percent at $80.06 a barrel.