Australian Market Advances

The Australian stock market is advancing on Tuesday following the overnight gains on Wall Street amid optimism about additional fiscal stimulus in the U.S. and on upbeat economic data. In addition, higher commodity prices lifted resources stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is rising 51.30 points or 0.85 percent to 6,095.50, off a high of 6,099.00 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is adding 53.10 points or 0.86 percent to 6,222.70. Australian stocks closed modestly higher on Monday.

Gold miners are notably higher after safe-haven gold prices rose to an all-time high overnight. Evolution Mining and Newcrest Mining are advancing more than 2 percent each.

Among the major miners, Rio Tinto is gaining almost 4 percent, while BHP Group Fortescue Metals are rising more than 2 percent each.

In the oil sector, Oil Search is advancing more than 1 percent and Woodside Petroleum is edging up 0.1 percent, while Santos is lower by 0.5 percent after crude oil prices rose overnight.

The big four banks are mixed. Westpac is declining 0.3 percent and ANZ Banking is down 0.1 percent, while Commonwealth Bank is rising 0.3 percent and National Australia Bank is edging up 0.1 percent.

Westpac said it has provided information to Australia's financial crime watchdog, AUSTRAC, on more than 500,000 additional transactions in relation to a money laundering and child exploitation scandal.

Temple & Webster Group reported a more than five-fold surge in full-year earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization, while revenue jumped 74 percent from the prior year. The online furniture trader's shares are higher by more than 4 percent.

In the currency market, the Australian dollar is higher against the U.S. dollar on Tuesday. The local unit was quoted at $0.7161, compared to $0.7132 on Monday.

On Wall Street, stocks closed higher on Monday, partly reflecting optimism about additional fiscal stimulus after Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Republicans have finalized their new coronavirus relief legislation. Mnuchin told "Fox News Sunday" the GOP intends to introduce the $1 trillion bill on Monday after delaying the planned rollout last week. In economic news, the Commerce Department released report showing durable goods orders continued to move sharply higher in the month of June.

While the Nasdaq surged up 173.09 points or 1.7 percent to 10,536.27, the Dow rose 114.88 points or 0.4 percent to 26,584.77 and the S&P 500 climbed 23.78 points or 0.7 percent to 3,239.41.

The major European markets ended mixed on Monday. While the German DAX Index closed just above the unchanged line, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index and the French CAC 40 Index both fell by 0.3 percent.

Crude oil prices rebounded after early losses on Monday as the dollar fell to its lowest level in two years. WTI crude for September ended up $0.31 or about 0.8 percent at $41.60 a barrel.