The Australian stock market is doubling its early gains in mid-market moves on Wednesday, reversing the slight losses in the previous session, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 moving to near the 9,000 mark, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight, with gains in financial, energy and mining stocks.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 130.30 points or 1.47 percent to 8,997.70, after touching a high of 8,999.40 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 121.60 points or 1.33 percent to 9,261.50. Australian stocks ended slightly lower on Tuesday.
Among major miners, BHP Group and Rio Tinto Fortescue are gaining more than 1 percent each, while Mineral Resources is edging down 0.2 percent.
Oil stocks are mostly higher. Woodside Energy and Santos are edging up 0.3 percent each, while Origin Energy is gaining more than 1 percent. Beach energy is losing more than 2 percent.
In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block is gaining almost 1 percent and Zip is advancing almost 5 percent, while WiseTech Global is down almost 1 percent, Xero is losing more than 1 percent and Appen is declining almost 3 percent.
Among the big four banks, Westpac is advancing almost 3 percent, National Australia bank is gaining more than 2 percent, ANZ Banking is adding more than 1 percent and Commonwealth Bank is surging almost 8 percent after reporting record cash earnings for the first-half. Among gold miners, Evolution Mining is surging almost 7 percent, Newmont is gaining more than 2 percent and Genesis Minerals is adding almost 2 percent, while Resolute Mining and Northern Star Resources are edging down 0.4 to 0.5 percent each.
In other news, shares in CSL are tumbling more than 6 percent after the biotech giant announced the departure of its chief executive officer and a 7 percent decline in its first-half earnings.
Shares in Aussie Broadband are jumping more than 13 percent amid a deal to acquire AGL Energy's telecommunications business and customer assets, which will see the company issue $115 million in stock to AGL.
Shares in James Hardie Industries are also jumping more than 12 percent after the construction materials supplier reported upbeat results for the third quarter.
In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.712 on Wednesday.
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Market Analysis
April 17, 2026 15:29 ET The ongoing conflict in the Middle East continues to raise concerns for policymakers who worry about the impact of the supply shock and high energy prices on the real economy. Producer price data and various survey results on the housing market were the main news from the U.S. this week. In Europe, industrial production data for the euro area gained attention. GDP figures out of China and the policy move by the Singapore central bank were in focus in Asia.