The Australian stock market showed a modest uptick on Thursday, recovering losses from the prior session, influenced by the generally positive signals from Wall Street overnight. The S&P/ASX 200 index saw a rise, hovering just below the 8,500 mark, driven by gains in the gold mining, technology, and financial sectors, although counterbalanced by a decline in iron mining and energy shares.
Market sentiment was further buoyed by expectations of an interest rate cut by the Reserve Bank of Australia in early 2025, following a third-quarter GDP growth that fell short of forecasts.
The S&P/ASX 200 Index improved by 25.50 points, or 0.30%, reaching 8,488.10, after peaking at 8,490.60 earlier in the session. Similarly, the broader All Ordinaries Index increased 27.90 points, or 0.32%, to 8,756.40. Australian equities had ended significantly lower on Wednesday.
In the mining sector, major players like BHP Group and Rio Tinto each experienced declines of over 1%, with Fortescue Metals slightly down by 0.2% and Mineral Resources seeing a drop of more than 2%.
Oil stocks predominantly showed declines. Woodside Energy fell by nearly 1%, while Origin Energy and Santos slipped between 0.2% to 0.5%. Beach Energy, however, saw a slight increase of 0.5%.
In the technology sector, Block, the owner of Afterpay, surged over 6%. WiseTech Global and Xero showed positive movements, gaining almost 3% and 1% respectively, while Appen declined nearly 3% and Zip dropped over 1%.
Among the major banks, Commonwealth Bank, ANZ Banking, and Westpac each posted gains approaching 1%, with National Australia Bank edging up 0.2%. Gold miners like Evolution Mining saw increases of over 1%, Gold Road Resources advanced more than 3%, Resolute Mining upped almost 3%, and Northern Star Resources edged up 0.5%. Newmont remained unchanged.
Economically, Australia reported a seasonally adjusted merchandise trade surplus of A$5.953 billion in October, as per the Australian Bureau of Statistics. This surpassed expectations of a A$4.530 billion surplus, following a downward revision of the September surplus to A$4.532 billion from the initially reported A$4.609 billion.
Exports increased 3.6% month-over-month to A$42.148 billion, after a downwardly revised fall of 4.7% in the previous month. Imports saw a marginal rise of 0.1% to A$36.195 billion, following an upwardly revised decrease of 2.8% the month before.
In the currency markets, the Australian dollar was trading at $0.642 on Thursday.
Meanwhile, Wall Street predominantly moved upward on Wednesday after a lackluster previous session, with the major averages reaching new record closing highs following mixed results for two consecutive days.
The tech-focused Nasdaq led the charge, soaring 254.21 points or 1.3% to 19,735.16. The Dow increased by 308.51 points or 0.7% to 45,014.04, while the S&P 500 climbed 36.61 points or 0.6% to 6,086.49.
Conversely, European markets painted a mixed picture. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index fell by 0.3%, whereas France's CAC 40 Index rose by 0.7%, and Germany's DAX Index surged by 1.1%.
Crude oil prices dropped on Wednesday due to geopolitical concerns in the Middle East and the Russia/Ukraine conflict, as well as political instability in South Korea and France. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for January closed down by $1.40, or 2%, at $68.54 per barrel.
