The Australian stock market is significantly higher on Monday, recouping most of the losses of the previous two sessions, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 moving above the 7,300 level, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street on Friday. The are boosts by materials, gold mining, financial and energy firms.
The market's upside is capped as traders are spooked amid the rapid spread of the highly contagious coronavirus variants in New South Wales, which recorded 112 new locally acquired cases of COVID-19, primarily in Sydney.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 57.00 points or 0.78 percent to 7,330.30, after touching a high of 7,353.40 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 57.00 points or 0.76 percent to 7,602.30. Australian stocks closed significantly lower on Friday.
Among the major miners, BHP Group is gaining more than 3 percent, while Mineral Resources and OZ Minerals are up more than 2 percent each. Fortescue Metals and Rio Tinto are adding almost 3 percent each.
Oil stocks are higher after crude oil prices climbed on Friday, Oil Search, Santos and Origin Energy are gaining almost 1 percent each, while Woodside Petroleum is adding more than 1 percent and Beach energy is up almost 2 percent.
Among tech stocks, Afterpay and Xero are gaining almost 1 percent, while Appen is edging down 0.5 percent and WiseTech Global is losing almost 1 percent.
Gold miners are higher. Evolution Mining is gaining more than 1 percent and Northern Star Resources is edging up 0.2 percent, while Gold Road Resources and Newcrest Mining are adding almost 1 percent each. Resolute Mining is flat.
Among the big four banks, Westpac and National Australia Bank are gaining almost 1 percent each, while Commonwealth Bank is edging up 0.5 percent and ANZ Banking is adding more than 1 percent.
In other news, shares in Australian Pharmaceutical Industries are soaring more than 18 percent after the Priceline and Soul Pattinson pharmacy owner received an acquisition bid of $1.38 per share from retail and industrial conglomerate Wesfarmers. The bid values API at about $690 million.
In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.748 on Monday.
On Wall Street, stocks moved sharply higher during trading on Friday, extending the rebound from the sell-off seen early in the previous session. With the upward move on the day, all three of the major averages ended the session at new record closing highs.
The major averages reached new highs for the session going into the close. The Dow spiked 448.23 points or 1.3 percent to 34,870.16, the Nasdaq jumped 142.13 points or 1 percent to 14,701.92 and the S&P 500 surged up 48.73 points or 1.1 percent to 4,369.55.
The major European markets also showed strong moves back to the upside. While the French CAC 40 Index spiked by 2.1 percent, the German DAX Index surged up by 1.7 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index jumped by 1.3 percent.
Crude oil futures settled higher Friday, extending gains from the previous session, following a bigger than expected drop in U.S. crude inventories last week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for August settled at $74.56, gaining $1.62 or 2.2 percent in the session.
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