Australian Market Doubles Early Gains In Mid-market

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is doubling its early gains in mid-market moves on Friday, extending the gains in the previous session, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is moving well above the 8,700 level, with gains across all sectors led by technology and mining stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 110.20 points or 1.28 percent to 8,749.20, after touching a high of 8,754.60 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 106.80 points or 1.20 percent to 8,997.60. Australian stocks closed significantly higher on Thursday.

Among major miners, BHP Group is gaining more than 2 percent and Mineral Resources is advancing 4.5 percent, while Fortescue Metals and Rio Tinto are adding almost 1 percent each.

In a fourth quarter and full year update, BHP reported production growth across all key commodities in the fourth quarter and record iron ore and copper production for the full year.

Oil stocks are mostly higher. Beach energy is edging down 0.4 percent, while Woodside Energy and Origin Energy are gaining almost 1 percent each. Santos is flat.

Among tech stocks, Afterpay-owner Block and Appen are gaining almost 3 percent each, while Zip is advancing almost 5 percent and Xero is adding almost 1 percent. WiseTech Global is flat.

Among the big four banks, National Australia Bank, ANZ Banking and Westpac are edging up 0.2 to 0.5 percent each, while Commonwealth Bank is edging down 0.2 percent.

Gold miners are mostly higher. Northern Star Resources, Gold Road Resources, Evolution Mining and Newmont are edging up 0.2 to 0.5 percent each, while Resolute Mining is losing almost 1 percent.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.651 on Friday.