Australian Markets Slightly Higher

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is slightly higher in choppy trading on Tuesday, extending the gains in the previous two sessions, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index is moving well above the 8,800 level, with gains in financial and technology stocks nearly offset by weakness in mining stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 3.00 points or 0.03 percent to 8,826.40, after touching a high of 8,832.90 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 0.60 points or 0.01 percent to 9,027.50. Australian stocks closed notably higher on Monday.

Among the major miners, BHP Group and Fortescue are edging down 0.3 to 0.4 percent each, while Rio Tinto is losing more than 1 percent and Mineral Resources is declining almost 3 percent.

Oil stocks are mixed. Beach energy is losing almost 1 percent and Woodside Energy is edging down 0.3 percent, while Origin Energy and Santos are edging up 0.1 to 0.3 percent each.

Among tech stocks, Afterpay owner Block is gaining more than 1 percent, Zip is adding almost 2 percent, Appen is edging up 0.5 percent and Xero is up almost 1 percent, while WiseTech Global is edging down 0.2 percent.

Gold miners are mostly lower. Northern Star Resources is losing more than 3 percent, Newmont is down more than 1 percent, Evolution Mining is declining almost 4 percent, Resolute Mining is slipping more than 4 percent and Genesis Minerals is edging down 0.2 percent.

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

In other news, shares in Euroz Hartleys are surging more than 7 percent after agreeing to sell its Capital Markets business to Bank of Montreal's BMO Financial Group for $145 million in cash. The proceeds will be returned to shareholders.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.687 on Tuesday.

On Wall Street, stocks moved sharply higher over the course of the trading day on Monday after moving seeing significant volatility early in the session. The major averages all moved to the upside, with the Dow reaching a new record closing high above 52,000.

The Dow gave back some ground late in the day, but the Nasdaq and S&P 500 closed near their session highs. The Nasdaq surged 522.53 points or 2.1 percent to 25,820.14, the S&P 500 jumped 86.41 points or 1.2 percent to 7,440.43 and the Dow climbed 306.63 points or 0.6 percent to 52,182.74.

Meanwhile, the major European markets moved to the downside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index slid by 0.6 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index and the German DAX Index both dipped by 0.2 percent.

Crude oil prices surged on Monday as vessel traffic across the Strait of Hormuz dropped due to safety threats following mutual U.S.-Iran attacks over the weekend, partially offsetting the losses from Friday's session. West Texas Intermediate crude for August delivery was up $1.36 or 1.96 percent at $70.59 per barrel.