Australian Market Notably Higher

(RTTNews) - Australian shares are trading notably higher on Wednesday, recouping the losses in the previous session, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 moving above the 8,000 mark to fresh all-time highs, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight, with gains in gold miners and technology stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 43.70 points or 0.55 percent to 8,043.00, after touching a fresh all-time high of 8,044.40 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 46.90 points or 0.57 percent to 8,290.20. Australian stocks ended modestly lower on Tuesday.

Among major miners, BHP Group is edging down 0.4 percent and Fortescue Metals is losing almost 1 percent, while Mineral Resources is gaining almost 1 percent and Rio Tinto is edging up 0.2 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly higher. Beach energy and Origin Energy are edging up 0.1 to 0.5 percent each, while Santos is gaining almost 1 percent. Woodside Energy is edging down 0.1 percent. In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block and Xero are edging up 0.1 to 0.3 percent each, while Appen is gaining almost 3 percent and WiseTech Global is adding more than 3 percent. Zip is flat.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank is edging down 0.2 percent, while National Australia Bank, ANZ Banking and Westpac are edging up 0.2 to 0.3 percent each.

Among gold miners, Newmont and Evolution Mining are gaining more than 2 percent each, while Gold Road Resources and Northern Star Resources are advancing almost 3 percent each. Resolute Mining is surging almost 5 percent.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.673 on Wednesday.

On the Wall Street, stocks moved mostly higher during trading on Tuesday, extending the upward move seen over the two previous sessions. The Dow led the charge, surging to a new record closing high.

The Dow jumped 742.76 points or 1.9 percent to 40,954.48, the S&P 500 climbed 35.98 points or 0.6 percent to a new record closing high of 5,667.20 and the Nasdaq rose 36.77 points or 0.2 percent to 18,509.34.

Meanwhile, the major European markets all moved to the downside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index slid by 0.7 percent, the German DAX Index fell by 0.4 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index dipped by 0.2 percent.

Crude oil prices fell on Tuesday, extending losses to a third straight session amid concerns about the outlook for demand and a slightly stronger dollar. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for August sank $1.15 or 1.4 percent at $80.76 a barrel.