Australian Market Notably Higher

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is notably higher on Friday, extending the gains in the previous session, despite the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is moving up to well above the 8,200 level, with gains across most sectors led by gold miners and energy stocks amid firm metal and crude oil prices.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 29.90 points or 0.37 percent to 8,231.10, after touching a high of 8,230.90 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 28.00 points or 0.33 percent to 8,493.00. Australian stocks closed notably higher on Thursday.

Among major miners, BHP Group, Rio Tinto and Fortescue Metals are edging down 0.2 to 0.3 percent each, while Mineral Resources is losing almost 1 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly higher. Woodside Energy and Santos are edging up 0.2 to 0.4 percent each, while Origin Energy is edging down 0.1 percent. Beach energy is flat.

Among tech stocks, Zip is gaining more than 1 percent and Afterpay-owner Block and Xero are edging up 0.1 to 0.2 percent each. Appen is declining almost 3 percent and WiseTech Global is losing almost 1 percent.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank, Westpac and National Australia Bank and ANZ Banking are edging up 0.3 to 0.5 percent each. Gold miners are mostly higher. Evolution Mining, Resolute Mining and Northern Star Resources are gaining more than 2 percent each, while Newmont and Gold Road Resources are adding almost 3 percent each.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.621 on Friday.

On Wall Street, stocks moved notably higher early in the session on Thursday but failed to sustain the upward move and fluctuated over the course of the trading day. The major averages swung back and forth across the unchanged line in morning trading before sliding more firmly into negative territory in the early afternoon only to regain ground in the latter part of the session.

The major averages eventually ended the day modestly lower. The Dow fell 151.95 points or 0.4 percent to 42,392.27, the Nasdaq dipped 30.00 points or 0.2 percent to 19,280.79 and the S&P 500 slipped 13.08 points or 0.2 percent to 5,868.55.

Meanwhile, the major European markets all moved to the upside on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index jumped by 1.1 percent, the German DAX Index advanced by 0.6 percent and the French CAC 40 Index rose by 0.2 percent.

Crude oil prices settled higher on Thursday amid some hopes about the outlook for oil demand from the world's second largest economy and data showing a drop in crude inventories in the U.S. in the week ended December 27. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures settled higher by $1.41 or about 2 percent at $73.13 a barrel.