Australian Market Extends Early Gains In Mid-market

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is extending its early gains in mid-market trading on Monday, reversing the sharp losses in the previous session, despite the broadly positive cues from Wall Street on Friday. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index is moving above the 8,200.00 level, with gains across most sectors led by mining and technology stocks. Financial stocks were the weak spot.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 45.70 points or 0.56 percent to 8,218.10, after touching a high of 8,234.80 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 47.70 points or 0.57 percent to 8,451.60. Australian stocks closed sharply lower on Friday.

Among the major miners, BHP Group and Fortescue Metals are gaining more than 1 percent each, while Rio Tinto is gaining more than 2 percent and Mineral Resources is adding more than 3 percent. Oil stocks are higher. Woodside Energy is gaining 1.5 percent, Santos is adding more than 1 percent and Beach energy is advancing almost 2 percent, while Origin Energy is edging down 0.5 percent.

Among tech stocks, Afterpay owner Block is advancing more than 3 percent and Xero is gaining 1.5 percent, while WiseTech Global and Appen are up almost 1 percent each. Zip is sliding more than 3 percent.

Gold miners are mostly higher. Evolution Mining is gaining more than 1 percent, Resolute Mining is advancing almost 5 percent, Newmont is adding almost 3 percent, Northern Star Resources is up almost 2 percent and Gold Road Resources is rising 2.5 percent.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank and ANZ Banking are losing almost 1 percent each, while National Australia Bank and Westpac are edging down 0.2 to 0.3 percent each.

In other news, shares in Star Entertainment have been suspended from trading after the casino operator failed to lodge accounts to the ASX.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.622 on Monday.