Australian Market Notably Higher

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is currently trading notably higher on Monday, adding to the gains in the previous session, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street on Friday. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index is moving above the 8,400.00 level, with gains across most sectors led by mining, energy and technology stocks. Financial stocks are the only weak spot.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 60.20 points or 0.72 percent to 8,454.00, after touching a high of 8,462.10 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 63.60 points or 0.74 percent to 8,696.70. Australian stocks closed significantly higher on Friday.

Among the major miners, BHP Group and Rio Tinto are gaining almost 1 percent each, while Fortescue Metals is adding almost 2 percent and Mineral Resources is up more than 1 percent. Oil stocks are mostly higher. Beach energy is edging up 0.2 percent, Woodside Energy is gaining more than 1 percent and Origin Energy is adding almost 1 percent, while Santos is losing almost 1 percent.

Among tech stocks, Afterpay owner Block and Xero are gaining almost 1 percent each, while Appen is advancing more than 4 percent and Zip is adding almost 2 percent. WiseTech Global is edging down 0.4 percent.

Gold miners are mostly higher. Evolution Mining is gaining almost 1 percent, while Gold Road Resources and Northern Star Resources are edging up 0.2 to 0.4 percent each. Newmont is edging down 0.2 percent and Resolute Mining is losing almost 3 percent.

Among the big four banks, Westpac and National Australia Bank are edging down 0.4 percent each, while ANZ Banking is losing almost 1 percent. Commonwealth Bank is flat.

In other news, shares in SG Fleet Group are skyrocketing almost 24 percent after Pacific Equity Partners made a takeover bid at $3.50 for the car leasing company.

Shares in Selfwealth jumped 6 percent after Bell Financial sweetened its takeover bid for the online retail broker.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.655 on Monday.

On Wall Street, stocks saw continued strength during trading on Friday extending the upward move seen over the course of Thursday's session. The Dow led the way higher once again, reaching a new record closing high.

The major averages all ended the day in positive territory, with the Dow jumping 426.16 points or 1.0 percent to 44,296.51. The S&P 500 also climbed 20.63 points or 0.4 percent to 5,969.34, while the Nasdaq rose 31.23 points or 0.2 percent to 19,003.65.

The major European markets all also moved to the upside on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index jumped by 1.4 percent, the German DAX Index advanced by 0.9 percent and the French CAC 40 Index rose by 0.6 percent.

Crude oil prices climbed higher on Friday amid rising concerns about Russia/Ukraine conflict. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for January closed up $1.14 or 1.6 percent at $71.24 a barrel. WTI crude futures gained 6.5 percent in the week.