Australian Markets Modestly Higher

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is modestly higher on Monday, reversing some of the losses in the previous session, despite the broadly negative cues from Wall Street on Friday. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index is moving well above the 8,800.00 level, with gains in financial and energy stocks partially offset by weakness in gold miner stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 24.40 points or 0.28 percent to 8,821.10, after touching a high of 8,836.20 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 25.20 points or 0.28 percent to 9,004.00. Australian stocks closed notably lower on Friday.

Among the major miners, Fortescue is gaining almost 1 percent and BHP Group is edging up 0.2 percent, while Mineral Resources and Rio Tinto are edging down 0.2 to 0.4 percent each.

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

Among tech stocks, Afterpay owner Block and Zip are edging up 0.1 to 0.3 percent each, while Xero is declining almost 2 percent and WiseTech Global is slipping almost 3 percent. Appen is flat.

Gold miners are mostly lower. Northern Star Resources and Evolution Mining are losing almost 2 percent each, while Newmont is down almost 1 percent and Genesis Minerals is declining more than 1 percent. Resolute Mining is gaining more than 1 percent.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank is gaining almost 1 percent, while ANZ Banking, Westpac and National Australia Bank are edging up 0.1 to 0.3 percent each. In other news, shares in EQ Resources are jumping more than 27 percent after Andrew Forrest's investment vehicle agreed to acquire a 16.8 per cent stake in the tungsten producer from Oaktree Capital Management, comprising of 862.1 million shares and 35.6 million options.

Shares in Deep Yellow are surging more than 5 percent after the uranium miner secured two major civil and concrete construction contracts for its Tumas Project in Namibia, valued at approximately A$34 million.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.699 on Monday.

On Wall Street, stocks showed another move to the downside during trading on Friday following the pullback seen in the previous session. The major averages all moved notably lower, with the Nasdaq showing another significant decline.

The Nasdaq tumbled 361.70 points or 1.4 percent to 25,520.24, the S&P 500 slumped 76.08 points or 1 percent to 7,457.69 and the Dow slid 406.55 points or 0.8 percent to 52,146.42.

Meanwhile, the major European markets turned in a mixed performance on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index slid by 0.5 percent and the German DAX Index fell by 0.3 percent, although the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index rose by 0.3 percent.

Crude oil prices surged on Friday as the U.S.-Iran conflict grows wider, with the U.S. targeting Iran civil infrastructures. West Texas Intermediate crude for August delivery was up $3.65 or 4.62 percent at $82.60 per barrel.