(RTTNews) - After opening flat, the Australian stock market has moved higher and is currently trading firm on Monday, with investors going in for some bargain hunting after the previous session’s sharp losses.

Materials, industrials and consumer staples stocks are moving higher. A few stocks from financial, healthcare and information technology sectors are also up with notable gains.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index is up 35.2 points or 0.8% at 4,721. The broader All Ordinaries index is currently up 35.3 points or 0.7% at 4,742.

On Friday, the S&P/ASX 200 index had declined 63.4 points or 1.33% to 4,686, while the All-Ordinaries Index ended at 4,707, recording a loss of 61.1 points or 1.28%.

Among top miners, Rio Tinto is gaining over 2%, BHP Billiton is trading 1% up and Newcrest Mining is up nearly 3%. Orica is up 2.6% over its previous closing price and Lihir Gold is gaining 2.8%. Incitec Pivot and Fortescue Metals are trading modestly higher, while Bluescope Steel is exhibiting weakness.

In the energy space, Santos, Origin Energy and Oil Search are trading slightly lower, while Woodside Petroleum is down by about 1%.

In the banking space, Westpac Banking Corporation and ANZ Bank are up with modest gains. National Bank of Australia is trading lower by 1%, while Commonwealth Bank of Australia is down with a modest loss.

Meanwhile, ANZ Banking Group Ltd has announced that it has completed its acquisition of the Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc’s Philippines unit and will complete its acquisition of RBS’ Vietnam unit by December 31, 2009.

ANZ had announced in August it would pay A$665.58 million to acquire six units from RBS which span retail, commercial and institutional banking and wealth management. The bank said on Monday the acquisition of RBS’ units in Taiwan, Singapore, Indonesia and Hong Kong would be completed by mid 2010.

Shares of James Hardie Industries N.V. are up nearly 8% despite the company reporting a net loss in the first half of fiscal 2010. The building products supplier reported a loss of A$106.56 million for the half year to September 30, compared to a profit of A$169.29 million in the prior corresponding half year. Net sales from ordinary activities declined to A$643.39 million from A$772.57 million. However, the company says full-year earnings still should enable it to contribute to the asbestos compensation fund.

iSOFT Group Limited has announced that iSOFT Business Solutions won new business totaling about A$10 million in October. The new deals include two contracts worth A$7.2 million. The stock is currently trading 1.3% up.

In economic news, new new motor vehicle sales in Australia rose 3.7%, seasonally adjusted, to 81,122 units in October, from 78,243 units in September, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Monday. This follows a 2.9% gain in September.

In the currency market, the Australian dollar is currently trading at 0.9161 to the U.S. dollar.

Among other markets in the Asia-Pacific region, Singapore is trading notably higher. New Zealand is up with a modest gain, while South Korea is trading weak. The Japanese market is closed for a public holiday. Markets across the region had closed mostly lower on Friday.

On Wall Street, stocks moved mostly lower on Friday with traders cashing in on recent gains. Disappointing quarterly results from Dell contributed to the decline as well. The major averages all closed in negative territory, slipping further away from Tuesday’s yearly highs.

The Dow closed lower by 14.3 points or 0.1% at 10,318.2, the Nasdaq ended down 10.8 points or 0.5% at 2,146 and the S&P 500 slipped by 3.5 points or 0.3% to 1,091.4.

Major European markets closed moderately lower on Friday. While U.K.’s FTSE 100 index lost 0.3%, the French CAC 40 index and the German DAX index drifted down by 0.8% and 0.7% respectively.

Crude oil declined on Friday on demand concerns and finished below US$77 per barrel. Light sweet crude for December dropped to US$76.72, down 74 cents on the session.

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

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