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 slight gains in the previous session, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 moving well above the 8,700 level, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight, with gains across most sectors led by mining and energy stocks. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 59.40 points or 0.69 percent to 8,736.60, after touching a high of 8,731.60 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 57.30 points or 0.64 percent to 8,998.80. Australian stocks ended slightly higher on Tuesday.

Among major miners, BHP Group is gaining more than 1 percent, Fortescue is adding more than 2 percent, Rio Tinto is advancing almost 2 percent and Mineral Resources is rising more than 2 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly higher. Origin Energy is edging up 0.1 percent, Woodside Energy is gaining almost 2 percent and Beach energy is adding almost 3 percent, while Santos is edging down 0.3 percent.

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block is gaining more than 2 percent, Zip is adding almost 1 percent and Appen is edging up 0.4 percent, while WiseTech Global is edging down 0.4 percent and Xero are losing more than 1 percent.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank and ANZ Banking are edging up 0.2 to 0.5 percent each, while Westpac is gaining more than 1 percent. National Australia bank is edging down 0.2 percent.

Among gold miners, Evolution Mining is advancing more than 3 percent, Resolute Mining is rising almost 2 percent, Northern Star Resources is gaining almost 3 percent, Newmont is adding more than 2 percent and Gold Road Resources is up more than 1 percent.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.656 on Wednesday.