Australian Market Rises For Seventh Straight Session

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market rose for the seventh straight session on Thursday, Christmas Eve, with investor sentiment bolstered by the overnight rally on Wall Street and the jump in crude oil prices.The Australian market will have a shortened session and close early on Christmas Eve.

In late-morning trades, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 Index is advancing 55.30 points or 1.08 percent to 5,197.10, off a high of 5,206.30 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 52.10 points or 1.00 percent to 5,245.60.

In the mining sector, BHP Billiton is gaining more than 4 percent, while Rio Tinto and Fortescue Metals are rising almost 4 percent each, despite lower iron ore prices overnight.

Gold miner Newcrest Mining and Evolution Mining are both rising almost 2 percent each even as gold prices inched lower for the second straight session.

Among oil stocks, Woodside Petroleum is gaining almost 3 percent, Oil Search is rising almost 4 percent, while Santos is declining more than 3 percent.

In the banking space, ANZ Banking, Westpac, National Australia Bank and Commonwealth Bank are higher in range of 1.3 percent to 1.6 percent.

Utility AGL Energy announced a long term gas supply gas deal with the Gladstone LNG project in Queensland. Shares of the company are advancing 1.6 percent.

In the currency market, the Australian dollar is flat against the US dollar in quiet trade ahead of the Christmas holiday period. In early trades, the local unit was trading at $0.7241, level with its close on Wednesday.

On Wall Street, stocks rallied on Wednesday, partly due to an increase in the price of crude oil. Traders were also reacting to a slew of U.S. economic data, including a report from the Commerce Department showing that new home sales increased for the second consecutive month in November.

The Dow jumped 185.34 points or 1.1 percent to 17,602.61, the Nasdaq advanced 44.82 points or 0.9 percent to 5,045.93 and the S&P 500 surged up 25.32 points or 1.2 percent to 2,064.29.

The major European markets showed substantial moves to the upside on Wednesday. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index soared by 2.6 percent, the French CAC 40 Index and the German DAX Index both jumped by 2.3 percent.

Crude oil futures rallied Wednesday after a surprising drop in U.S. oil inventories. WTI crude for February delivery jumped $1.36 or 3.8 percent to close at $37.50 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.