Australian Market Modestly Higher

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is modestly higher on Friday, recouping some of the losses in the previous four sessions, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 above the 7,300 level, following the broadly negative cues overnight from Wall Street, led by gains in the energy, financial and materials stocks, partially offset by weakness in technology stocks, which mirrored their peers on Nasdaq.

Meanwhile, traders remain concerned over the rising domestic Covid-19 cases. New South Wales reported a new record of 2,213 new cases and one death on Thursday, with a total of 185 Omicron cases. Victoria also reported 1,510 new cases and seven deaths, with more than 13 total Omicron cases and investigations on 30 exposures ongoing.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 41.50 points or 0.57 percent to 7,337.20, after touching a high of 7,339.70 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 37.40 points or 0.49 percent to 7,655.90. Australian markets ended modestly lower on Thursday.

Among major miners, Rio Tinto, OZ Minerals and Fortescue Metals are adding almost 1 percent each, while BHP Group is up 1.5 percent and Mineral Resources is gaining almost 2 percent.

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

Among tech stocks, Appen is gaining almost 1 percent, while Xero is losing almost 5 percent, Afterpay is plunging more than 7 percent, Zip is slipping almost 7 percent and WiseTech Global is declining almost 4 percent.

Shares in Afterpay and Zip are plunging being probed by US regulators over their consumer protections policies, along with Paypal and several other companies.

Among the big four banks, Westpac is edging up 0.5 percent and Commonwealth Bank is gaining more than 2 percent, while ANZ Banking and National Australia Bank are adding almost 1 percent each.