CANBERA (dpa-AFX) - Asian stock markets are trading mostly higher on Monday, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street on Friday, amid increasing optimism about the US Fed cutting interest rate in August based on last week's weak economic data. Traders shrugged off concerns about the economic impact of US President Donald Trump's 'reciprocal tariffs' targeting more than 90 trading partner nations. Asian markets closed mostly lower on Friday.
The Australian stock market is modestly higher on Monday, reversing the losses in the previous two sessions, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street on Friday. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index is staying above the 8,800.00 level, with gains in iron ore miners, energy and financial stocks partially offset by weakness in gold miners and technology stocks.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 31.00 points or 0.35 percent to 8,838.10, after touching an all-time record high of 8,852.30 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 32.80 points or 0.36 percent to 9,109.40. Australian stocks closed modestly lower on Friday.
Among the major miners, Fortescue and Rio Tinto are gaining 1.5 percent each, while BHP Group is advancing 1.5 percent and Mineral Resources is soaring more than 10 percent.
Oil stocks are mostly higher. Origin Energy, Santos and Woodside Energy are edging up 0.1 to 0.4 percent each, while Beach energy is advancing 2.5 percent.
Among tech stocks, Afterpay owner Block is tumbling almost 9 percent, Zip is losing more than 2 percent and Xero is declining almost 1 percent, while WiseTech Global is edging up 0.4 percent and Appen is gaining 2.5 percent.
Gold miners are mostly lower. Northern Star Resources and Newmont are declining more than 1 percent each, while Gold Road Resources down 1.5 percent each. Evolution Mining is edging up 0.5 percent and Resolute Mining is adding almost 3 percent.
Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank are adding almost 1 percent, while ANZ Banking, National Australia Bank and Westpac are gaining more than 1 percent each.
In other news, shares in Liontown Resources are skyrocketing almost 20 percent after the lithium miner returned from a trading halt on completing a major capital raising.
Shares in DigiCo are jumping more than 9 percent after the real estate company secured the government's housing certification.
Shares in Iress are tumbling almost 11 percent after reporting downbeat s results for the half yearly period.
Shares in IDP Education soaring almost 10 percent as Jefferies Australia analyst Wei Sim raised his price target on a bullish note.
Shares in JB Hi-Fi are diving almost 9 percent after long-serving chief executive Terry Smart announced his decision by to step down from the top position in October.
In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.652 on Monday.
The Japanese stock market is closed for Mountain Day holiday on Monday. Japanese shares ended sharply higher on Friday.
In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 147 yen-range on Monday.
Elsewhere in Asia, Indonesia is up 1.2 percent, while New Zealand, China, Malaysia and Taiwan are higher by between 0.1 and 0.6 percent each. Hong Kong and Singapore are down 0.2 percent each. South Korea is relatively flat.
On Wall Street, stocks moved mostly higher over the course of the trading on Friday following the mixed performance seen in the previous session. With the upward move, the tech-heavy Nasdaq reached a new record closing high.
The major averages all finished the day firmly in positive territory. The Nasdaq jumped 207.32 points or 1.0 percent to 21,450.02, the S&P 500 advanced 49.45 points or 0.8 percent to 6,389.45 and the Dow climbed 206.97 points or 0.5 percent to 44,175.61.
Meanwhile, the major European markets turned in a mixed performance on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index rose by 0.4 percent, the German DAX Index and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index both slipped by 0.1 percent.
Crude oil posted very slight gains on Friday as uncertainty prevails over the U.S.-Russia conflict over the war with Ukraine, combined with the threat of sanctions on Russian oil exports. West Texas Intermediate crude for September was up $0.03 or 0.05 percent to $63.91 per barrel.
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