Australian shares experienced modest gains on Wednesday, continuing the positive momentum from the previous session. The benchmark index, the S&P/ASX 200, comfortably remains above the 8,200 threshold. This performance aligns with the mixed signals from Wall Street overnight, showing strength across most sectors with mining and financial stocks leading the charge. The exception was the technology sector, which saw declines. Currently, the S&P/ASX 200 Index has risen by 27.90 points or 0.34%, reaching 8,258.90 after peaking at 8,260.90 earlier. Meanwhile, the broader All Ordinaries Index increased by 30.70 points or 0.36%, reaching 8,502.50. Australian stocks had ended significantly higher on Tuesday.
In the mining sector, BHP Group saw a slight increase of 0.1%, Rio Tinto gained nearly 1%, Mineral Resources added over 2%, and Fortescue Metals rose by 2.5%.
Oil stocks also observed an upward trend. Woodside Energy, Origin Energy, Santos, and Beach Energy each edged up by 0.1 to 0.3%.
Conversely, in the technology sector, Block, which owns Afterpay, fell by nearly 1%, Appen decreased by almost 2%, WiseTech Global declined by nearly 3%, and Xero edged down by 0.1%, although Zip managed a slight increase of 0.2%.
Regarding the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank, National Australia Bank, and Westpac each inched up by 0.3 to 0.5%, with ANZ Banking gaining over 1%.
In the realm of gold mining, Evolution Mining increased by more than 2%, Northern Star Resources added over 1%, while Newmont, Resolute Mining, and Gold Road Resources each advanced by nearly 2%.
In the currency market, the Australian dollar is trading at $0.619 on Wednesday.
On Wall Street, the stocks appeared indecisive during Tuesday's session, unable to maintain early gains and fluctuating across the unchanged line before closing mixed. The tech-heavy Nasdaq declined by 43.71 points or 0.2% to 19,044.39, whereas the S&P 500 inched up by 6.69 points or 0.1% to 5,842.91, and the Dow Jones increased by 221.16 points or 0.5% to 42,518.28.
In Europe, the markets displayed a mixed outcome on the same day. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index fell by 0.3%, the French CAC 40 Index decreased by 0.2%, while the German DAX Index rose by 0.7%.
Crude oil prices retreated from their five-month highs on Tuesday as investors began to focus on the potential implications of Donald Trump’s proposed import tariffs. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for February fell by $1.32 or about 1.67%, ending at $77.50 per barrel.
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