Australian Market Modestly Higher

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is trading modestly higher on Tuesday, adding to the gains in the previous two sessions, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is moving well above the 8,800 level, with gains across most sectors led by mining and technology shares.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 27.10 points or 0.31 percent to 8,838.00, after touching a high of 8,840.90 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 27.70 points or 0.30 percent to 9,129.80. Australian stocks closed modestly higher on Monday.

Among the major miners, BHP Group is gaining 1.5 percent and Fortescue is adding almost 1 percent, while Mineral Resources and Rio Tinto are advancing more than 2 percent each. Oil stocks are mostly higher. Santos, Origin Energy and Woodside Energy are edging up 0.2 to 0.4 percent each, while Beach energy is edging down 0.3 percent.

Among tech stocks, Afterpay owner Block and Appen are gaining almost 1 percent each, Zip is adding almost 2 percent and Xero is edging up 0.5 percent. WiseTech Global is edging down 0.1 percent.

Gold miners are mostly higher. Northern Star resources, Newmont and Evolution Mining are gaining almost 3 percent each, while Resolute Mining is advancing almost 5 percent and Gold Road Resources is adding more than 1 percent.

Among the big four banks, National Australia Bank, ANZ Banking and Westpac are edging up 0.1 to 0.3 percent each, while Commonwealth Bank is edging down 0.1 percent.

In other news, shares in Myer are tumbling more than 21 percent after reporting that net profit slipped 30 percent, even as total sales increased 0.5 percent on a pro forma basis, due to its acquisition of the Apparel Brands business in January. Shares in Telix Pharmaceuticals are surging almost 9 percent after it said that the United States Centres for Medicare & Medicaid Services granted transitional pass-through payment status for its prostate cancer imaging product Gozellix.

In economic news, the manufacturing sector in Australia continued to expand in September, albeit at a slower pace, the latest survey from S&P Global revealed on Tuesday with a manufacturing PMI score of 51.6. That's down from 53.0 in August, although it remains above the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction. The survey also showed that the services PMI fell to 52.0 from 55.8 in the previous month.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.659 on Tuesday.

On Wall Street, stocks moved mostly higher over the course of the trading session on Monday after recovering from an initial move to the downside. While the tech-heavy Nasdaq led the charge, the major averages all reached new record closing highs.

The major averages ended the day just off their highs of the session. The Nasdaq advanced 157.50 points or 0.7 percent to 22,788.98, the S&P 500 climbed 29.39 points or 0.4 percent to 6,693.75 and the narrower Dow inched up 66.27 points or 0.1 percent to 46,381.54.

Meanwhile, the major European markets were mixed on the day. The German DAX Index fell by 0.5 percent and the French CAC 40 Index declined by 0.3 percent, although the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index bucked the downtrend and inched up by 0.1 percent.

Crude oil prices were little changed on Monday amid lingering oversupply concerns after OPEC agreed earlier this month to boost production starting in October. West Texas Intermediate crude for October delivery was up $0.05 or 0.08 percent at $62.73 per barrel.