Australian Market Significantly Higher

(RTTNews) - The Australian market is trading significantly higher on Thursday, extending the gains in the previous four sessions, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is moving above up to near the 9,100 level, with gains across most sectors led by mining, energy and financial stocks. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 84.30 points or 0.94 percent to 9,091.30, after touching a high of 9,111.00 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 77.70 points or 0.84 percent to 9,316.40. Australian stocks ended notably higher on Wednesday.

Among major miners, Rio Tinto and BHP Group are gaining almost 2 percent each, while Mineral Resources and Fortescue are edging up 0.4 to 0.5 percent each.

Oil stocks are mostly higher. Santos is surging almost 5 percent and Origin Energy is edging up 0.5 percent, while Beach energy and Woodside Energy are advancing almost 3 percent each.

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block is surging more than 5 percent, Xero is advancing almost 1 percent and WiseTech Global is edging up 0.1 percent, while Appen is tumbling more than 15 percent. Zip is plunging almost 35 percent despite reporting strong first-half growth and upgrading parts of its guidance, seeming to be triggered by heavy profit-taking.

Among the big four banks, ANZ Banking is gaining almost 2 percent, Westpac is advancing more than 3 percent and National Australia Bank is adding almost 3 percent, while Commonwealth Bank is edging down 0.4 percent.

Among gold miners, Genesis Minerals and Evolution Mining are gaining almost 2 percent each, while Northern Star Resources is adding almost 1 percent, Resolute Mining is up more than 1 percent and Newmont is edging up 0.4 percent.

In economic news, the unemployment rate in Australia came in at a seasonally adjusted 4.1 percent in January, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Thursday. That was unchanged from the December reading but below expectations for 4.2 percent.

The Australian economy added 17,800 jobs last month - shy of forecasts for an increase of 20,000 following the addition of 65,200 jobs in the previous month. The participation rate was 66.7 percent - unchanged but missing forecasts for 66.8 percent.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.704 on Thursday.

On Wall Street, stocks showed a strong move to the upside in early trading on Wednesday before giving back some ground over the course of the session. The major averages pulled back well off their highs of the session but managed to end the day firmly in positive territory.

Adding to the modest gains posted during Tuesday's session, the Nasdaq advanced 175.25 points or 0.8 percent to 22,753.63, the S&P 500 climbed 38.09 points or 0.6 percent to 6,881.31 and the Dow rose 129.47 points or 0.3 percent to 49,662.66.

The major European markets have also moved to the upside on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index surged 1.2 percent, the German DAX Index shot up 1.1 percent and the French CAC 40 Index advanced by 0.8 percent.

Crude oil prices skyrocketed on Wednesday after reports that Iran failed to address core U.S. demands in nuclear talks earlier this week. West Texas Intermediate crude for March delivery soared $2.73 or 4.4 percent to $64.99 a barrel.