On Thursday, the Australian market has extended its early gains, building on the progress made in the previous session despite the generally negative indications from Wall Street overnight. The S&P/ASX 200 index has surpassed the 8,500 mark, driven by significant advances in the mining, energy, and financial sectors.
The S&P/ASX 200 Index has risen by 64.00 points, a 0.76% increase, reaching 8,511.00, after touching an earlier peak of 8,511.10. The broader All Ordinaries Index also reflects this positive trend, climbing 63.80 points or 0.73% to 8,764.50. Australian stocks closed significantly higher on Wednesday.
In the mining sector, Fortescue Metals is up nearly 1%, while both BHP Group and Rio Tinto have gained over 1% each. However, Mineral Resources has slipped by 2.5%.
Oil stocks demonstrate mostly upward movement. Woodside Energy and Beach Energy have both increased by more than 1%, with Origin Energy and Santos rising close to 1% each.
In technology, WiseTech Global has gained nearly 1%, Xero has increased by 0.3%, but Appen has dropped more than 9%, and Zip has plummeted by almost 23%, despite reporting positive results. Meanwhile, Afterpay owner Block is currently in a trading halt.
Among the major banks, Commonwealth Bank has increased nearly 1%, and National Australia Bank has gained over 1%. ANZ Banking and Westpac, meanwhile, have edged up between 0.4% and 0.5% each. In the gold mining sector, Gold Road Resources has risen by more than 1%, Evolution Mining is up almost 1%, while Northern Star Resources and Newmont have marginally increased by 0.2% to 0.5%. Conversely, Resolute Mining has dropped by more than 3%.
In the currency market, the Australian dollar is trading at $0.623 on Thursday.
