(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is significantly higher on Wednesday, extending the gains in the previous two sessions, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 below the 7,400 level, following the broadly positive cues overnight from Wall Street, as technology, energy and materials stocks lifted the market after iron ore and crude oil prices jumped.
Easing of concerns about the impact of the Omicron variant on global economic recovery also boosted market sentiment.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 52.00 points or 0.71 percent to 7,365.90, after touching a high of 7,379.40 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 63.70 points or 0.84 percent to 7,668.90. Australian stocks ended significantly higher on Tuesday.
Among major miners, BHP Group is gaining almost 2 percent, Rio Tinto is adding more than 2 percent, OZ Minerals is up more than 1 percent, Fortescue Metals is advancing almost 3 percent and Mineral Resources is surging almost 5 percent.
Oil stocks are higher. Woodside Petroleum and Santos are gaining more than 2 percent, while Oil Search and Beach energy are advancing almost 3 percent each. Origin Energy is adding more than 1 percent.
Woodside Petroleum said it will invest $5 billion in new energy products by 2030 as it looks to reduce reliance on fossil fuels, including LNG, and tap into cleaner sources of fuel. In the tech space, WiseTech Global is advancing almost 3 percent, Xero is up 1.5 percent and Afterpay is gaining more than 3 percent, while Appen is losing more than 1 percent.
Shares in Zip are surging almost 10 percent after the buy-now pay-later giant reported a record monthly transaction volume of A$906.5 million in November, up 52% from last year.
Among the big four banks, ANZ Banking is losing almost 1 percent, while National Australia Bank and Commonwealth Bank are edging down 0.4 percent each. Westpac is flat.
Among gold miners, Newcrest Mining is edging up 0.2 percent, Gold Road Resources is gaining more than 2 percent, Evolution Mining is adding more than 1 percent and Northern Star Resources is up almost 1 percent, while Resolute Mining is losing almost 1 percent. In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.712 on Wednesday.
On Wall Street, stocks showed another strong move to the upside during trading on Tuesday following the rally seen to start the week. The major averages all moved sharply higher, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq posting a particularly strong gain.
The Nasdaq soared 461.76 points or 3 percent to 15,686.92, continuing to recover after ending last Friday's trading at its lowest closing level in well over a month. The Dow also jumped 492.40 points or 1.4 percent to 35,719.43, while the S&P 500 surged up 95.08 points or 2.1 percent to 4,686.75.
The major European markets also showed strong moves to the upside on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index jumped by 1.5 percent, the German DAX Index and the French CAC 40 Index soared by 2.8 percent and 2.9 percent, respectively.
Crude oil prices rose sharply on Tuesday, lifting the most active futures contracts to their highest settlement in two weeks amid rising optimism about the outlook for energy demand. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for January surged $2.56 or 3.7 percent at $72.05 a barrel.
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