Australian Markets Modestly Higher

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is modestly higher on Tuesday after opening in the red, snapping a four-session losing streak, despite the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index is moving up to near the 9,100 level, with gains in energy stocks partially offset weakness in technology and financial stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 10.90 points or 0.12 percent to 9,084.10, after hitting a low of 9,054.50 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 8.60 points or 0.09 percent to 9,287.20. Australian stocks closed modestly lower on Monday.

Among the major miners, Rio Tinto is edging up 0.4 percent, BHP Group is advancing more than 4 percent and Fortescue is gaining more than 1 percent, while Mineral Resources is losing almost 1 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly higher. Beach energy is advancing more than 2 percent and Origin Energy is edging up 0.3 percent, while Santos and Woodside Energy are gaining almost 1 percent each.

Among tech stocks, Afterpay owner Block is declining more than 3 percent, WiseTech Global is down almost 1 percent, Zip is losing almost 2 percent, Xero is slipping more than 1 percent and Appen is sliding almost 3 percent.

Gold miners are mixed. Evolution Mining, Genesis Minerals and Northern Star Resources are edging down 0.1 to 0.5 percent each, while Newmont and Resolute Mining are adding almost 1 percent each.

Among the big four banks, ANZ Banking, National Australia Bank, Commonwealth Bank and Westpac are losing more than 1 percent each.

In other news, shares in CSL are jumping almost 16 percent after the blood plasma giant said it expected to return to underlying earnings growth this year after reporting downbeat results.

Shares in Pro Medicus are surging more than 10 percent after the healthcare company reported upbeat results and raised its fully-franked total dividend by 25.5 percent.

Shares in Ausgold are skyrocketing almost 25 percent after a $776 million takeover by Canada's OceanGold.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.711 on Tuesday.

On Wall Street, stocks showed a lack of direction early in the session on Monday but moved mostly lower over the course of the trading day. The major averages all moved to the downside, extending the modest pullback seen during last Friday's session.

The S&P 500 ended the day near its lows of the session, down 40.70 points or 0.5 percent at 7,745.06, pulling back further off the record closing high set last Thursday. The narrower Dow also slid 272.63 points or 0.5 percent to 53,459.78, while the Nasdaq fell 84.25 points or 0.3 percent to 26,644.91.

The major European markets also moved to the downside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index slid by 0.7 percent, the German DAX Index declined by 0.4 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index fell by 0.3 percent.

Crude oil prices moved sharply higher on Monday, reflecting concerns about a re-escalation of the conflict in the Middle East. West Texas Intermediate crude for September delivery surged $2.28 or 2.8 percent to $84.68 a barrel.