Australian Market Extends Early Gains In Mid-market

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is extending its early gains in mid-market moves on Wednesday after opening in the red, reversing some of the losses in the previous two sessions, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 staying above the 8,800 level, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight, with gains in financial and technology stocks partially offset by weakness in mining and energy stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 22.30 points or 0.25 percent to 8,825.80, after touching a high of 8,826.20 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 11.40 points or 0.13 percent to 9,092.10. Australian stocks ended notably lower on Tuesday.

Among major miners, BHP Group is losing more than 1 percent, Fortescue is down almost 1 percent, Rio Tinto is declining almost 2 percent and Mineral Resources is tumbling more than 8 percent.

Oil stocks are lower. Woodside Energy, Origin Energy and Santos are edging down 0.1 to 0.3 percent each, while Beach energy is losing more than 1 percent.

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block is edging up 0.2 percent, while Xero and Zip are adding almost 1 percent each. WiseTech Global and Appen are flat.

Among the big four banks, ANZ Banking, National Australia bank, Westpac and Commonwealth Bank are all gaining more than 1 percent each.

Among gold miners, Evolution Mining is losing more than 1 percent, Gold Road Resources is down almost 1 percent, while Northern Star Resources and Resolute Mining are slipping almost 2 percent each. Newmont is flat.

In other news, shares in Iluka Resources are tumbling more than 11 percent on news the miner will halt production at its Cataby mine in Western Australia from December 1 due to subdued demand for mineral sands.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.660 on Wednesday.