Australian Market Modestly Higher

(RTTNews) - The Australian market is modestly higher on Thursday, recouping some of the losses in the previous two sessions, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is moving to near the 8,000 mark, with gains in mining, financial and technology stocks, partially offset by losses in energy stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 32.00 points or 0.40 percent to 7,982.50, after touching a high of 7,991.80 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 31.60 points or 0.39 percent to 8,188.60. Australian stocks ended sharply lower on Wednesday.

Among major miners, Rio Tinto and Fortescue Metals are gaining almost 1 percent each, while BHP Group is adding more than 1 percent. Mineral Resources is losing almost 2 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly lower. Beach energy and Origin Energy are losing more than 3 percent each, while Santos is down almost 1 percent and Woodside Energy is declining almost 6 percent.

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block and Xero are edging up 0.2 to 0.4 percent each, while Appen is gaining almost 5 percent and Zip is advancing almost 1 percent. WiseTech Global is flat.

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

Among gold miners, Evolution Mining and Northern Star Resources are edging up 0.1 to 0.2 percent each, while Resolute Mining is advancing almost 2 percent. Newmont is edging down 0.4 percent. Gold Road Resources is flat.

In other news, shares in Coronado Global Resources are tumbling more than 16 percent after it said heavy rain at its coal mine in the Bowen Basin of Central Queensland has hurt production in FY24.

Shares in Challenger are plunging almost 11 percent after US-listed private capital firm Apollo Global Management offloaded a 10 percent stake in the annuities and fund manager.

Shares in Star Entertainment remain in a halt as the casino operator's negotiations with its lenders continue with no sign of a deal.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.672 on Thursday.

On Wall Street, stocks showed a lack of direction over the course of the trading day on Wednesday following the sell-off seen during Tuesday's session. The major averages spent the day bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line.

The major averages eventually finished the day narrowly mixed. While the Dow inched up 38.04 points or 0.1 percent to 40,974.97, the S&P 500 dipped 8.86 points or 0.2 percent to 5,520.07 and the Nasdaq fell 52.00 points or 0.3 percent to 17,084.30.

Meanwhile, European stocks moved to the downside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index slumped by 1.0 percent, the German DAX Index slid by 0.8 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index fell by 0.4 percent.

Crude oil prices tumbled on Wednesday amid rising concerns about the outlook for demand following reports that OPEC is planning to restore 180,000 barrels per day of voluntary production cuts beginning next month. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for October ended down $1.14 or 1.6 percent at 69.20 a barrel, a nine-month low.