On Wednesday, Australian shares experienced a notable upswing, effectively recouping losses from the previous session. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 surged past the 8,400 mark, influenced by the generally positive momentum from Wall Street overnight. Technology and financial stocks spearheaded the gains across various sectors. The S&P/ASX 200 Index rose by 47.10 points or 0.56 percent, reaching 8,446.20, after hitting an earlier high of 8,441.60. Meanwhile, the broader All Ordinaries Index increased by 52.80 points or 0.61 percent to 8,697.30. This rally follows a modest decline in Australian stocks on Tuesday.
In the mining sector, BHP Group saw a drop exceeding 1 percent, and Rio Tinto fell almost 2 percent. Conversely, Mineral Resources and Fortescue Metals exhibited slight gains ranging from 0.1 to 0.5 percent.
Oil companies performed well, with Woodside Energy and Beach Energy both advancing more than 1 percent. Santos and Origin Energy observed moderate increases of 0.1 to 0.5 percent.
For technology stocks, Appen rose by 4.5 percent, WiseTech Global advanced by 3.5 percent, Xero saw gains surpassing 2 percent, and Zip increased by over 1 percent. Block, which owns Afterpay, is currently on a trading halt.
In the banking sector, Commonwealth Bank and National Australia Bank edged upwards by 0.3 to 0.5 percent, while ANZ Banking and Westpac gained nearly 1 percent each.
Gold mining entities observed positive movements, with Evolution Mining and Northern Star Resources both up almost 1 percent, Newmont by 0.5 percent, and Resolute Mining climbing nearly 3 percent. However, Gold Road Resources slipped by 0.2 percent.
Notably, Boss Energy's shares soared over 13 percent following strong operational results from its Honeymoon uranium project.
In economic developments, Australia's annual inflation rate decreased to 2.4 percent in the fourth quarter from 2.8 percent in the previous quarter, falling below the market expectation of 2.5 percent. This marks the lowest rate since Q1 2021.
December 2024 saw Australia's Consumer Price Index (CPI) rising by 2.5 percent year-on-year, aligning with forecasts and up from a 2.3 percent rise the prior month—the highest since August. Excluding volatile items and travel, the CPI rose by 2.7 percent, eased from a three-month high of 2.8 percent in November.
In the currency sphere, the Australian dollar was trading at $0.623 on Wednesday.
In the U.S., Wall Street rebounded strongly on Tuesday following notable losses in the earlier session. The Nasdaq, heavily weighted in tech stocks, led the recovery after a steep drop on Monday. The index climbed 391.75 points or 2.0 percent to 19,733.59, partially mitigating the previous day's 3.1 percent decline. The S&P 500 advanced by 55.42 points or 0.9 percent to 6,067.70, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average grew by 136.77 points or 0.3 percent to 44,850.35.
Meanwhile, European markets showed mixed outcomes. The French CAC 40 Index saw a slight decline of 0.1 percent, while the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index increased by 0.4 percent and Germany's DAX Index advanced by 0.7 percent.
In the commodities market, crude oil prices rose on Tuesday due to supply disruptions in Libya where protests hindered tanker loadings at two major ports. February futures for West Texas Intermediate Crude oil tacked on $0.60 or approximately 0.82 percent, closing at $73.77 per barrel.
