Australian Market Extends Early Gains In Mid-market

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is extending its early gains in mid-market moves on Wednesday, adding to the gains in the previous session, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 moving well above the 8,500 level, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight, with gains across most sectors led by energy, financial and technology stocks.

Australia also reported weaker-than-expected GDP figures for the first quarter that fuelled expectations of a more dovish stance by the Reserve Bank of Australia on interest rates.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 71.30 points or 0.84 percent to 8,538.00, after touching a high of 8,541.20 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 73.50 points or 0.85 percent to 8,764.40. Australian stocks ended notably higher on Tuesday.

Among major miners, BHP Group is gaining more than 1 percent, Fortescue metals is adding more than 2 percent, Rio Tinto is edging up 0.2 percent and Mineral Resources is surging almost 7 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly higher. Woodside Energy is gaining more than 2 percent and Santos is adding almost 1 percent, while Beach energy and Origin Energy are edging up 0.2 to 0.5 percent each.

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block is gaining almost 4 percent, WiseTech Global is edging up 0.1 percent, Zip is soaring almost 13 percent and Appen surging almost 8 percent, while Xero is edging down 0.5 percent.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank is adding more than 1 percent and Westpac is advancing almost 2 percent, while National Australia bank and ANZ Banking are gaining almost 1 percent each.

Among gold miners, Newmont is gaining almost 1 percent, while Gold Road Resources and Resolute Mining are edging up 0.2 to 0.5 percent each. Evolution Mining is losing more than 2 percent and Northern Star Resources is edging down 0.3 percent.

In other news, shares in PointsBet are jumping more than 10 percent after Japanese entertainment giant Mixi lobbed a higher bid to buy PointsBet and stave off a takeover by Australian bookmaker Betr.

In economic news, Australia's gross domestic product expanded a seasonally adjusted 0.2 percent on quarter in the first quarter of 2025, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Wednesday. That missed expectations for an increase of 0.4 percent and was down from 0.6 percent in the three months prior. On an annualized basis, GDP was up 1.3 percent - again shy of forecasts for an expansion of 1.5 percent and steady from the previous quarter.

Meanwhile, the services sector in Australia continued to expand in May, albeit it at a slower pace, the latest survey from S&P Global revealed on Wednesday with a services PMI score of 50.6. That's down from 51.0 in April, although it remains above the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.647 on Wednesday.