The Australian stock market opened higher on Friday, with miners and oil stocks leading the gainers following a rebound in commodity prices overnight.
In late-morning trades, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 Index is adding 28.60 points or 0.52 percent to 5499.60, off a high of 5,522.10 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 29.30 0.54 5485.60.
Miners are advancing after iron ore prices climbed almost 10 percent overnight. BHP Billiton (BHP) and Fortescue Metals are gaining almost 1 percent, while Rio Tinto is adding more than 1 percent. BC Iron is higher by more than 3 percent.
Gold miner Newcrest Mining is losing 0.3 percent and Evolution Mining is down almost 1 percent despite higher gold prices.
In the oil sector, Oil Search is up more than 2 percent, Woodside Petroleum is adding almost 1 percent and Santos is up almost 2 percent after crude oil prices jumped overnight.
The big four banks are also higher. Australia and New Zealand Banking Group, National Australia Bank, Commonwealth Bank and Westpac (WBK) are up in a range of 0.4 percent to more than 1 percent. Macquarie Group is adding almost 2 percent.
On the economic front, Australia will on Friday release May figures for home loans.
In the currency market, the Australian dollar lost ground against the U.S. dollar despite better-than-expected jobs data, a recovery of Chinese shares and a new Greek bailout proposal. In early trades, the local unit was trading at US$0.7449, down from Thursday's close of US$0.7477.
On Wall Street, stocks closed modestly higher on Thursday, partly in reaction to a substantial rebound by Chinese stocks and on optimism about a deal between Greece and its creditors. However, the positive sentiment was partly offset by news that the International Monetary Fund lowered its forecast for global economic growth in 2015.
The Dow crept up 33.20 points or 0.2 percent to 17,548.62, the Nasdaq rose 12.64 points or 0.3 percent to 4,922.40 and the S&P 500 edged up 4.63 points or 0.2 percent to 2,051.31.
The major European markets also showed strong moves to the upside on Thursday. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index shot up by 1.4 percent, the German DAX Index and the French CAC 40 Index soared by 2.3 percent and 2.6 percent, respectively.
U.S. crude oil snapped a five-day loss to end sharply higher on Thursday, as Chinese equity markets rebounded while easing concerns of a slowdown in the global economy.
Crude Oil futures for August delivery, the most actively traded contract, jumped $1.13 or 2.2 percent to settle at $52.78 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange Thursday.
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Market Analysis
December 26, 2025 08:42 ET Third quarter economic growth data from some major economies including the U.S. were the main news in this holiday shortened week. GDP growth and industrial production data from the U.S. helped to boost morale, while the consumer confidence survey results were less upbeat. In Europe, the quarterly economic growth data from the U.K. drew attention, while the minutes of the Australian central bank’s latest policy session was in focus in Asia.