The Australian stock market made small gains on Tuesday, following a positive trend from Wall Street. The prominent S&P/ASX 200 Index maintained levels above 7,600. While iron ore miners boosted the market, energy stocks reflected a slight downturn. Performances across other sectors were varied.
Gains of 6.20 points or 0.08 percent pushed the S&P/ASX 200 Index to 7,643.60, touching a high of 7,651.50 at one point. The broader All Ordinaries Index increased by 7.10 points or 0.09 percent to 7,913.70. This follows the significant rise of Australian stocks on Monday.
Leading miners like Rio Tinto edged up 0.2 percent, while BHP Group surged nearly 1 percent. Mineral Resources and Fortescue Metals both experienced a nearly 2 percent increase. On the other hand, most oil stocks like Santos, Beach Energy, Woodside Energy, and Origin Energy, showed a slight decrease of up to 2 percent.
Tech stocks displayed mixed activity. Afterpay owner Block and WiseTech Global marginally fell 0.2 to 0.5 percent, while Zip and Xero rose slightly by 0.1 to 0.4 percent. Appen experienced a near 2 percent drop.
Gold mining stocks also showed varied performance. Evolution Mining and Newmont decreased by 0.4 percent, while Gold Road Resources increased by 0.2 percent, and Northern Star resources saw nearly a 1 percent rise. Resolute Mining held steady.
Amongst the big four banks, National Australia Bank, ANZ Banking and Westpac experienced a slight increase of 0.1 to 2 percent, while Commonwealth Bank remained steady.
In the currency market, the Aussie dollar traded at $0.56 on Tuesday.
Wall Street stocks registered an increase during Monday's trading following a strong upward push from last week. The Dow, Nasdaq, and the S&P 500 all closed the day in positive territory.
Meanwhile, the main European markets showed a mixed performance. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index inched up by 0.1 percent, whereas the German DAX Index and the French CAC 40 Index fell by 0.2 and 0.3 percent respectively.
Crude oil prices fell on Monday due to concerns about growth, future oil demand, and the increasing likelihood of the Federal Reserve postponing interest rate cuts. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures closed at a lower $82.63 a barrel, marking a $1.22 or 1.45 percent decrease.
