On Friday, the Australian stock market bounced back, making significant gains after unpredictable global cues the day before. A majority of sectors, spearheaded by mining and energy stocks, showed positive advancements, thanks to a surge in commodity pricing, as well as technology stocks. Subsequently, the S&P/ASX 200 benchmark held firm above the 7,700 level.
The S&P/ASX 200 Index saw an increase of 41.00 points, or 0.53 percent, amounting to 7,762.60. It had earlier reached a peak of 7,764.20. In contrast, the broader All Ordinaries Index rose by 42.90 points or 0.54 percent to settle at 8,037.10. Thursday's trading session concluded with Australia's market indices significantly lower.
Key mining stocks such as BHP Group, Rio Tinto, Fortescue Metals, and Mineral Resources witnessed a marginal increase of 0.2 to 0.5 percent each. On the other hand, oil stocks fared well, with Beach Energy gaining over 3 percent, Santos nearly 1 percent and Woodside Energy more than 1 percent. However, Origin Energy witnessed a decrease of about 1 percent.
As for tech stocks, WiseTech Global and Xero were slightly lower by 0.1 to 0.3 percent each, while Afterpay owner Block saw nearly 2 percent growth, Zip increased by more than 3 percent, and Appen grew by approximately 1 percent.
Top banks like the Commonwealth Bank, ANZ Banking, and National Australia Bank saw their values rise by almost 1 percent each, while Westpac displayed a modest increase of 0.2 percent. Gold miners, on the other hand, enjoyed a mostly positive performance. Evolution Mining and Newmont gained almost 2 percent each, while Northern Star Resources grew by almost 1 percent, Gold Road Resources advanced over 4 percent, and Resolute Mining surged more than 5 percent.
In currency trading, the Aussie dollar was priced at $0.662 on Friday.
Wall Street also saw a mostly positive turn during Thursday's trading, following mixed performance in the two previous sessions, with the Dow hitting a new peak closing level in over a month after a seven-session winning streak. The Dow increased by 331.37 points or 0.9 percent to settle at 39,387.76, the S&P 500 gained 26.41 points or 0.5 percent finishing at 5,214.08, while the Nasdaq edged up by 43.51 points or 0.3 percent to close at 16,346.26.
Key European markets also followed the upward trend. Specifically, the German DAX Index rose by 1.0 percent, the French CAC 40 Index experienced a 0.7 percent increase, and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index registered a growth of 0.3 percent.
Optimism about the demand outlook, combined with recently published data indicating a substantial drop in U.S. crude inventories last week, pushed crude oil prices higher on Thursday. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for June closed higher by $0.27 to stand at $79.26 per barrel.
