Headline indices of the Australian share market were higher on Tuesday, 27 November 2018, as investor sentiment improved following rallies on Wall Street overnight with expectations growing for a year-end shopping spree. . However, market gains capped on caution before crucial meeting between US and Chinese leaders at the end of the week. Among ASX issues, shares in technology, telecom, financial, energy, and consumer discretionary issues being notable gainers. In late afternoon trade, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index inclined 50.43 points, or 0.9%, to 5,722 points, while the broader All Ordinaries index added 45.81 points, or 0.8%, to 5,795.40 points.

Global developments influenced trading in local market today. Signs that Italy's coalition government was prepared to cut its budget deficit target — a move that could defuse tensions between Rome and the European Union — helped too soothe jitters. U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May also walked away from an EU meeting with approval for her Brexit deal and now seeks the approval of her own parliament.

Investors are looking ahead to the Group of 20 summit beginning Friday when President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are expected to meet and discuss trade issues. The summit will be watched closely for how relations between both countries develop, in addition to further news surrounding Sino-US trade. China's main goal at the G20 meeting is to get the United States to refrain from raising the tariffs in January.

Petroleum-linked shares posted gains as global oil prices stabilized. Last Friday, Crude oil prices plummeted approximately 6% to their lowest levels this year on continued concerns about a global oversupply. Woodside Petroleum, Oil Search, and Santos were higher in the between 1% to 2%.

Metals and mining stocks were lower, with Rio Tinto down 0.5% and Fortescue Metals down more than 1%, while BHP Group rose almost 1% after diversified miner announced it has identified a potential new iron oxide, copper and gold mineralized system near its Olympic Dam operations in South Australia as part of a copper exploration program.

Financial stocks edged up as gains in three of the country's big four banks bolstered the sector. In the banking sector, ANZ Banking, Commonwealth Bank and National Australia Bank were higher by 0.1% to 0.2%, while Westpac was down 0.3%.

Among individual stocks, Harvey Norman Holdings gained more than 2% after homewares and electricals retailer said that comparable sales at its Australian franchisee-operated stores for the period from July 1 to November 23 fell 0.2% from the year-ago period, while comparable sales at its wholly or majority-owned stores rose 3%.

CURRENCY: Australian Dollar, seen as a proxy for China-related trades, eased against greenback and other major currencies on Tuesday. The Australian dollar was quoted at 72.22 US cents, down from 72.47 cents on Monday.

OFFSHORE MARKET NEWS: Wall Street stocks closed higher on Monday, rebounding from four consecutive days of losses, as retail shares rallied on expectations of strong sales as shoppers went hunting for deals on Cyber Monday. Stable oil prices and global equities gains also soothed sentiment after a bruising week of losses. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 354.29 points, or 1.5%, to 24,640.24. The broad-based S&P 500 rose 40.89 points, or 1.6%, to 2,673.45, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index rallied 142.87 points, or 2.1%, to 7,081.85. Last week, the Nasdaq tumbled 4.3%, the Dow fell 4.4% and the S&P 500 slid 3.8%, marking the worst Thanksgiving week since 2011 for all three indexes.

The major European markets also rallied on Monday, as investors digested fresh developments surrounding the U.K.'s withdrawal process from the EU. Over the weekend, leaders from the European Union chose to endorse the Brexit withdrawal deal laid out by U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May. The German DAX Index spiked by 1.5%, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index surged up by 1.2%, and the French CAC 40 Index jumped by 1%.