Australian Market Significantly Higher

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is trading significantly higher on Friday, reversing the losses in the previous two sessions, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is moving a tad above 8,800 level, with gains across most sectors led by mining a technology stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 91.10 points or 1.04 percent to 8,801.80, after touching a high of 8,824.50 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 98.00 points or 1.11 percent to 8,853.50. Australian stocks closed slightly lower on Thursday.

Among major miners, and BHP Group is advancing almost 3 percent, Fortescue is gaining almost 2 percent and Rio Tinto is adding more than 2 percent. Mineral Resources is flat.

Oil stocks are mostly lower. Origin Energy is gaining almost 1 percent, while Santos and Woodside Energy are edging down 0.2 percent each. Beach energy is flat.

Among tech stocks, Afterpay and Square-owner Block is soaring almost 7 percent, Zip is edging up 0.5 percent, Appen is advancing almost 3 percent, Xero is gaining more than 4 percent and WiseTech Global is jumping more than 6 percent.

Among the big four banks, National Australia Bank, Commonwealth Bank, Westpac are edging down 0.2 to 0.5 percent each, while ANZ Banking is adding almost 1 percent.

Gold miners are mostly higher. Northern Star Resources and Resolute Mining are adding more than 2 percent each, while Genesis Minerals is up more than 3 percent, Evolution Mining is gaining almost 2 percent and Newmont is gaining almost 4 percent.

In other news, shares in Maas Group are surging more than 9 percent after reiterating its balance sheet strength and business prospects. In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.692 on Friday.

On Wall Street, stocks extended Wednesday's slump in early trading on Thursday but showed a considerable turnaround over the course of the session. The major averages all moved to the upside as the day progressed, with the Dow jumping to its best closing level in a month.

The Dow shot up 556.21 points or 1.1 percent to 52,177.69 and the S&P 500 also rose 25.12 points or 0.3 percent to 7,744.06, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq spent most of the day in negative territory but managed to end the day up 20.16 points or 0.1 percent at 26,713.03.

The major European markets also moved to the upside on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index jumped by 1.1 percent, the French CAC 40 Index advanced by 0.8 percent and the German DAX Index rose by 0.3 percent.

Crude oil prices were higher for a sixth straight day on Thursday on elevated supply concerns after two commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz were struck by projectiles. West Texas Intermediate crude for November delivery surged $2.95 or 3.1 percent to $98.04 a barrel.