Australian Market Doubles Early Losses In Mid-market

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is doubling its early loses in mid-market moves on Friday, extending the losses in the previous session, despite the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is falling below the 8,550 level, with weakness is technology stocks partially offset by gains in gold miners and energy stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 22.20 points or 0.22 percent to 8,542.90, after touching a high of 8,577.40 and a low of 8,525.40 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 30.60 points or 0.35 percent to 8,765.40. Australian stocks closed modestly lower on Thursday.

Among major miners, BHP Group is declining more than 2 percent, Fortescue Metals is edging down 0.3 percent and Rio Tinto is losing almost 1 percent, while Mineral Resources is gaining 1.5 percent each, while Oil stocks are mostly higher. Santos is gaining almost 4 percent, Woodside Energy are advancing almost 6 percent, Beach energy is adding almost 3 percent and Origin Energy is surging more than 6 percent.

Among tech stocks, Afterpay-owner Block and Appen are declining more than 2 percent each, while Xero is edging down 0.2 percent, WiseTech Global is losing almost 2 percent and Zip is down more than 1 percent.

Among the big four banks, ANZ Banking and Westpac are losing almost 1 percent each, while National Australia Bank and Commonwealth Bank are edging down 0.3 percent each.

Gold miners are mostly higher. Gold Road Resources is up almost 2 percent, Northern Star Resources is adding almost 4 percent, Newmont is surging more than 5 percent, Evolution Mining is gaining almost 5 percent and Resolute Mining is advancing more than 1 percent.

In other news, shares in Accent Group, which owns the Hype and Platypus chains and fashion outlet Glue Store, plunged more than 22 percent after the footwear retailer warned that sales have flagged post-Christmas.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.649 on Friday.