The Australian stock market is rising on Tuesday despite the negative cues overnight from Wall Street amid rising coronavirus cases across the world and concerns about the political uncertainty in Washington. Gains by banks and oil stocks helped offset weakness in the mining sector.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is advancing 20.00 points or 0.30 percent to 6,717.20, after touching a high of 6722.50. The broader All Ordinaries Index is adding 16.70 points or 0.24 percent to 6,976.20. Australian shares closed lower on Monday.
In the banking sector, National Australia Bank, ANZ Banking, Westpac and Commonwealth Bank are higher in a range of 0.9 percent to 1.5 percent.
Among oil stocks, Santos and Oil Search are advancing more than 1 percent each, while Woodside Petroleum is adding 0.3 percent, even as crude oil prices settled almost flat on Monday.
Meanwhile, the major miners are lower. Fortescue Metals is declining more than 1 percent, while Rio Tinto and BHP Group are down almost 1 percent each.
Gold miners are extending losses even as gold prices rebounded overnight. Evolution Mining is lower by more than 1 percent and Newcrest Mining down 0.5 percent.
On Wall Street, stocks closed lower on Monday as investors stayed largely cautious, assessing valuations and taking some profits. Rising coronavirus cases across the world and concerns about the developments in Washington also weighed on stocks. House Democrats are preparing to impeach Donald Trump even though the president has less than two weeks left in his term.
The Dow, which plunged nearly 270 points in early trades, ended down 89.28 points or 0.29 percent at 31,008.69. The S&P 500 slid 25.07 points or 0.66 percent to 3,799.61, while the Nasdaq settled at 13,036.43, losing 165.54 points or 1.25 percent.
The major European also ended notably lower on Monday. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 ended down 1.09 percent, Germany's DAX lost 0.8 percent and France's CAC 40 shed 0.78 percent.
Crude oil futures settled flat on Monday as rising coronavirus cases and tighter lockdown measures in several countries across the world raised concerns about outlook for energy demand. WTI crude for February settled at $52.25 a barrel, up $0.01 from the previous close.
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