(RTTNews) - Buoyed by a strong close on Wall Street overnight, the Australian market opened on a rousing note on Friday with investors going in for some brisk buying almost across the board.

Energy, materials, financials and technology stocks are moving up sharply, while telecom and healthcare stocks are seen struggling for support.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index, which rose to 4,673.6 in early trades, has come off that high, but is still fairly high up in positive territory at 4,639 with a gain of 64.3 points, or 1.4%. The broader All Ordinaries index is up 64.8 points, or 1.4%, at 4,640.

On Thursday, the S&P/ASX 200 index had ended down 110.4 points, or 2.4%, at 4,574.7, while the All Ordinaries index closed lower by 112.1 points, or 2.4%, at 4,575.2.

Among top miners, Rio Tinto is gaining nearly 4% and BHP Billiton is up 0.9%, while Newcrest Mining is up by a modest 0.35%.

Bluescope Steel, Fortescue Metals, Incitec Pivot and Lihir Gold are trading stronger by 2%-4%, while Orica is gaining about 1.8%.

Among energy stocks, Woodside Petroleum is up 1.4%, Santos is gaining 1.25% and Oil Search is up with a modest gain of 0.6%. Origin Energy is up 1.5% over its previous close.

Origin Energy has reaffirmed profit guidance for 2009-10, and says more natural gas will be used for power generation as nations reduce carbon emissions. The company said it continued to grow during the global recession and still expects underlying profit for 2010 to be about 15% higher than the previous year. Underlying profit for the year ended June 30, 2009 was A$530 million.

In the banking space, ANZ Bank is up 0.7%, Commonwealth Bank of Australia is gaining about 2%, National Australia Bank is trading 2.4% up and Westpac Banking Corporation is moving up 1.2%. Diversified financials stock Macquarie Group is up nearly 1.5% despite trading well off the day’s high.

In the currency market, the Australian dollar is currently trading at 0.9140 to the U.S. dollar.

Among other stock markets in the Asia-Pacific region, Japan, Singapore and Taiwan are trading notably higher. New Zealand and Korea are also trading firm. Markets across the region had ended notably lower on Thursday.

On Wall Street, stocks rallied sharply on Thursday with buoyant third-quarter GDP growth generating risk appetite and driving traders to go on a buying spree. The major averages all finished firmly in positive territory, partly offsetting their recent losses.

The Commerce Department said its advance estimate showed that GDP increased at an annual rate of 3.5% in the third quarter compared to a 0.7% decrease in the second quarter. Economists had been expecting GDP to increase by 3.2%.

The Dow closed up nearly 200 points, or 2.1%, 9,962.6, the Nasdaq advanced by about 38 points, or 1.8%, to 2,097.6 and the S&P 500 moved up 23.5 points, or 2.3%, to 1,066.1.

Major European markets closed notably higher on Thursday. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 gained 1.1%, while the French CAC 40 index and the German DAX index gained 1.4% and 1.7% respectively.

Crude oil surged on Thursday but failed to hold above US$80 per barrel. Prices were boosted by a better-than-forecast gross domestic product report and some mixed jobs data. Light sweet crude oil for December delivery rose to US$79.87 per barrel, up US$2.41 on the session.

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Posted in Categories: Australia, Eurozone, Japan, New Zealand, Releases, Stocks, USA.

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