Australian Market Significantly Higher

(RTTNews) - Australian shares are trading significantly higher on Wednesday, extending the gains in the previous two sessions, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 moving above the 8,600 level, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight, with gains across most sectors led by technology stocks. Gold miner stocks were the only weak spot.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 90.70 points or 1.06 percent to 8,627.70, after touching a high of 8,637.90 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 95.60 points or 1.08 percent to 8,919.80. Australian stocks ended slightly higher on Tuesday.

Among major miners, Fortescue is up almost 1 percent, Rio Tinto is adding more than 1 percent, Mineral Resources is advancing more than 3 percent and BHP Group is gaining 1.5 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly higher. Santos is edging up 0.1 percent, Origin Energy is adding almost 1 percent and Beach energy is gaining more than 1 percent, while Woodside Energy is edging down 0.2 percent.

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block is advancing more than 3 percent, Zip is surging more than 7 perrcent and Appen is adding almost 4 percent, while WiseTech Global and Xero are gaining almost 1 percent each.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank, National Australia bank and ANZ Banking are gaining almost 1 percent each, while Westpac is edging up 0.5 percent.

Among gold miners, Evolution Mining is losing more than 1 percent and Northern Star Resources is down almost 1 percent, while Resolute Mining and Genesis Minerals are edging down 0.3 percent each. Newmont is flat.

In other news, shares in National Storage are in a trading halt ahead of an announcement about a possible takeover bid for the self-storage company.

In economic news, The value of total construction work done in Australia was down a seasonally adjusted 0.7 percent on quarter in the third quarter of 2025, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Wednesday - coming in at A$79.278 billion. That missed forecasts for an increase of 0.4 percent following the 3.0 percent gain in the previous three months. On a yearly basis, total construction work was up 2.9 percent.

Building work done rose 4.0 percent on quarter and 6.5 percent on year to A$43.261 billion. Engineering work done fell 5.8 percent on quarter and 1.2 percent on year to A$36.016 billion.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.648 on Wednesday.

On Wall Street, stocks moved notably higher over the course of the trading day on Tuesday after showing a lack of direction early in the session. The major averages all moved to the upside, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq joining the Dow and the S&P 500 in positive territory after an initial pullback.

The major averages pulled back off their highs going into the end of the day but still posted strong gains. The Dow jumped 664.18 points or 1.4 percent to 47,112.45, the S&P 500 advanced 60.76 points or 0.9 percent to 6,765.88 and the Nasdaq climbed 153.59 points or 0.7 percent to 23,025.59.

The major European markets have also moved to the upside on the day. While the German DAX Index is up by 1.0 percent, the French CAC 40 Index is up by 0.9 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index is up by 0.8 percent.

Crude oil prices slumped on Tuesday on reports that a revised Russia-Ukraine peace plan has been accepted by Ukraine. West Texas Intermediate crude for January delivery was down $0.96 or 1.61 percent at $57.89 per barrel.