The Australian stock market saw modest gains amidst turbulent trading on Friday, building on the progress made in the previous session, influenced by broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 continues to stay above the 8,200 level. Gains in mining and technology stocks are partially offsetting losses in financial and energy stocks. The S&P/ASX 200 Index is up 12.70 points or 0.16 percent to 8,216.40, after reaching a high of 8,224.50 earlier. Additionally, the broader All Ordinaries Index has risen 16.10 points or 0.19 percent to 8,478.90. Australian markets concluded Thursday with significant gains.
In the mining sector, major players such as BHP Group and Rio Tinto are both up by more than 3 percent. Mineral Resources is experiencing a substantial surge of over 9 percent, and Fortescue Metals has increased by almost 5 percent.
Oil stocks, however, are mostly in decline. Woodside Energy and Santos are down by more than 2 percent each, Beach Energy has dropped by 1.5 percent, and Origin Energy is decreasing by almost 1 percent.
Technology stocks are showing mixed performance. Block, owner of Afterpay, and WiseTech Global are edging higher by 0.3 to 0.5 percent each, while Xero is adding almost 1 percent and Appen is gaining more than 1 percent. Zip is seeing a decline of nearly 2 percent.
Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank has dropped almost 1 percent, Westpac by almost 2 percent, and both ANZ Banking and National Australia Bank are down by more than 1 percent each. Gold miners are showing mixed results; Resolute Mining is down more than 1 percent, while Newmont and Northern Star Resources are down 0.2 to 0.3 percent each. Conversely, Evolution Mining is up nearly 2 percent, and Gold Road Resources has increased by almost 1 percent.
In other noteworthy developments, shares of Star Entertainment have plummeted 45 percent on the first day of trading since late August.
In the currency market, the Australian dollar is trading at $0.689 on Friday.
On Wall Street, stocks rebounded on Thursday following a pullback in the previous session. Major averages surrendered some ground after an early rally but managed to close the day in positive territory.
The S&P 500 increased by 23.11 points or 0.4 percent to a new record closing high of 5,745.37, the Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced by 260.36 points or 0.6 percent to 42,175.11, and the Nasdaq Composite climbed by 108.09 points or 0.6 percent to 18,190.29.
European markets also saw upward movement on the day. The French CAC 40 Index surged by 2.3 percent, the German DAX Index rose 1.7 percent, and the UK’s FTSE 100 Index inched up by 0.2 percent.
Crude oil prices fell sharply on Thursday, impacted by concerns about excess supply after reports indicated that OPEC will return 2.2 million barrels per day of production cuts back into the market. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for November concluded down $2.02 or 2.9 percent at $67.67 a barrel.
