Australian Market Extends Early Gains In Mid-market

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is extending its early gains in mid-market trading on Friday, also adding to the gains in the previous two sessions, despite the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is moving well above the 8,200 level, with gains across most sectors led by gold miners, energy and technology stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 43.60 points or 0.53 percent to 8,244.80, after touching a high of 8,249.90 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 43.30 points or 0.51 percent to 8,508.30. Australian stocks closed notably higher on Thursday.

Among major miners, BHP Group, Rio Tinto and Mineral Resources are edging down 0.5 percent each, while Fortescue Metals is losing almost 1 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly higher. Woodside Energy and Beach energy are gaining almost 1 percent each, while Santos is adding more than 1 percent. Origin Energy is flat.

Among tech stocks, Afterpay-owner Block, WiseTech Global and Xero are edging up 0.2 to 0.5 percent each, while Zip is gaining 1.5 percent and Appen is adding almost 1 percent.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank, Westpac and National Australia Bank are gaining almost 1 percent each, while ANZ Banking is edging up 0.4 percent each. Gold miners are mostly higher. Evolution Mining and Northern Star Resources are gaining more than 2 percent each, while Resolute Mining and Gold Road Resources are adding almost 3 percent each. Newmont is advancing more than 3 percent.

In other news, shares in Paladin Energy are jumping almost 8 percent after its substantial holder, JPMorgan Chase & Co, increased its voting power to 7.55% from 6.48%.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.621 on Friday.