Australian Market Notably Higher

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is trading notably higher on Friday, extending the slight gains in the previous session, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is moving well above the 8,750 level, with gains in gold miners and financial stocks partially offset weakness in iron ore miner stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 47.20 points or 0.54 percent to 8,771.70, after touching a high of 8,773.80 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 42.50 points or 0.48 percent to 8,973.40. Australian stocks closed slightly higher on Thursday.

Among major miners, Rio Tinto is losing almost 1 percent and Fortescue is declining more than 2 percent, while Mineral Resources and BHP Group are edging up 0.2 percent each.

Oil stocks are mostly lower. Origin Energy and Woodside Energy are edging down 0.2 to 0.5 percent each, while Santos is edging up 0.1 percent. Beach energy is flat.

Among tech stocks, Afterpay and Square-owner Block is gaining almost 2 percent and Xero is edging up 0.3 percent, while Zip is edging down 0.2 percent and Appen is losing more than 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 is edging down 0.2 percent. Westpac is edging down 0.2 percent.

Gold miners are mostly higher. Northern Star Resources is surging almost 7 percent, Evolution Mining is gaining more than 4 percent, Newmont is advancing almost 4 percent and Resolute Mining is adding almost 2 percent. Genesis Minerals is soaring more than 10 percent after it met FY26 production guidance and advanced growth projects.

In other news, shares in Boss Energy are surging more than 6 percent after the company announced that it has achieved its revised full year FY 2026 uranium production guidance.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.691 on Friday.

On Wall Street, stocks turned in a mixed performance on Thursday after opening higher but retreating following the release of U.S. jobless data that showed employment in the U.S. increased by much less than expected in the month of June.

The Dow jumped 594.83 points or 1.14 percent to finish at 52,900.07, while the NASDAQ tumbled 207.36 points or 0.80 percent to end at 25,832.67 and the S&P 500 perked 0.01 point or 0.00 percent to close at 7,483.24.

Meanwhile, the major European markets moved to the upside on the day. The UK's FTSE 100 jumped 1.67 percent, Germany's DAX closed higher by 2.16 percent, hitting a new record high, and France's CAC 40 climbed 1.65 percent.

Crude oil prices inched higher on Thursday after the U.S. and Iran expressed contradictory remarks over the management of the Strait of Hormuz. West Texas Intermediate crude for August delivery was up $0.05 or 0.07 percent at $68.63 per barrel.