Australian Market Extends Early Gains In Mid-market

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is extending its early gains in mid-market moves on Friday, adding the gains in the previous session, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is moving above the 8,900 level, with gains across most sectors led by energy and technology stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 31.90 points or 0.36 percent to 8,905.70, after touching a high of 8,909.00 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 31.00 points or 0.34 percent to 9,180.10. Australian stocks closed notably higher on Thursday.

Among major miners, BHP Group and Rio Tinto are edging up 0.4 to 0.5 percent each, while Fortescue is gaining 1.5 percent and Mineral Resources is adding more than 1 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly higher. Santos is adding almost 1 percent, Beach energy is gaining more than 1 percent, Origin Energy is advancing almost 2 percent and Woodside Energy is edging up 0.4 percent.

Among tech stocks, Afterpay-owner Block, WiseTech Global and Xero are edging up 0.2 to 0.5 percent each, while Appen is gaining almost 2 percent. Zip is losing almost 1 percent.

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

Gold miners are mostly higher. Evolution Mining and Gold Road Resources are edging down 0.1 to 0.5 percent each, while Northern Star Resources is losing almost 1 percent. Newmont is edging up 0.4 percent and Resolute Mining is gaining more than 1 percent.

In other news, shares in Ampol are jumping almost 7 percent after it announced a $1.1 billion deal to acquire EG Australia that will add about 500 company-owned and operated (COCO) service stations to Ampol's network.

Shares in Baby Bunting are skyrocketing more than 28 percent after its annual profit guidance for this fiscal year came in 12 percent ahead of analyst expectations.

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