At lunch on Thursday the S&P/ASX 200 index has followed the lead of U.S. markets and stormed higher. At the time of writing the benchmark index is up 1% to 6,883.8 points.
Here's what has been happening on the market today:
Banks share bounce back.
Australia's big four banks are back on form on Thursday and helping to drive the market higher. At lunch all four banks are trading higher. The best performer in the group today is the Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA) share price. The shares of Australia's largest bank are up 1% at the time of writing.
Tech share rise.
The easing of tensions in the Middle East has gone down well in the tech sector on Thursday. A number of tech shares including Afterpay Ltd (ASX: APT) and Nearmap Ltd (ASX: NEA) are charging notably higher today. This has led to the S&P/ASX 200 Info Tech index pushing 1.8% higher at the time of writing.
Gold miners tumble.
Gold miners including Northern Star Resources Ltd (ASX: NST) and Resolute Mining Limited (ASX: RSG) are sinking lower on Thursday after the gold price dropped lower. According to CNBC, overnight the spot gold price fell 1.15% to US$1,556.20 an ounce. This was in response to the easing of tensions in the Middle East. The S&P/ASX All Ords Gold index is down 2.8% at lunch.
Best and worst performers.
The best performer on the benchmark index on Thursday is the Pro Medicus Limited (ASX: PME) share price with a 7% gain. Its shares are up despite there being no news out of it. However, prior to today its shares were down 42% from their 52-week high. The worst performer on the index is the Northern Star share price with a 3.5% decline following a drop in the gold price.
