Australian Market Notably Higher

(RTTNews) - Australian shares are trading notably higher on Wednesday, extending the gains in the previous session, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 moving well above the 8,700 level, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight, with gains across most sectors led by mining and financial stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 40.10 points or 0.46 percent to 8,732.70, after touching a high of 8,739.30 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 39.80 points or 0.45 percent to 8,964.00. Australian stocks ended significantly higher on Tuesday.

Among major miners, BHP Group is gaining almost 2 percent, Rio Tinto is adding almost 1 percent, Fortescue is up almost 3 percent and Mineral Resources is advancing more than 3 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly higher. Origin Energy is gaining more than 1 percent, while Santos and Woodside Energy are edging up 0.3 percent each. Beach energy is down almost 1 percent.

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block is edging down 0.1 percent, Xero is slipping almost 2 percent and WiseTech Global is losing almost 4 percent, while Zip is edging up 0.4 percent and Appen is surging more than 5 percent.

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

Among gold miners, Evolution Mining is gaining almost 1 percent, Resolute Mining is rising more than 2 percent, Northern Star Resources is advancing more than 3 percent, Newmont is adding almost 2 percent and Genesis Minerals is edging up 0.4 percent.

In other news, shares in Lynas Rare Earths are jumping almost 14 percent after the rare earths producer outlined an updated long-term marketing agreement with a key Japanese partner, Japan Australia Rare Earths (JARE), extending the partnership through to 2038.

Shares in Dateline Resources are surging more than 8 percent after the rare earths company announced a major expansion of its Music Valley Heavy Rare Earth Project in California.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.713 on Wednesday.

On the Wall Street, stocks showed a lack of direction over the course of the trading day on Tuesday after recovering from an early sell-off to end Monday's session mostly higher. The major averages spent the day bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line.

The major averages eventually ended the day narrowly mixed. While the Nasdaq inched up 1.16 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 22,697.10, the Dow edged down 34.29 points or 0.1 percent to 47,706.51 and the S&P 500 dipped 14.51 points or 0.2 percent to 6,781.48. Meanwhile, the major European markets have shown strong moves back to the upside on the day. While the German DAX Index surged by 2.3 percent, the French CAC 40 Index and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index jumped by 1.8 percent and 1.6 percent, respectively.

Crude oil prices plunged on Tuesday after Trump said that the ongoing war would end "very soon" but provided no details. The conflict has driven oil prices to sky-high levels in recent days. West Texas Intermediate crude for April delivery tumbled $9.47 or 9.99 percent at $85.30 per barrel.