Australian Market Extends Early Gains In Mid-market

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is extending its early gains in mid-market trading on Tuesday, also adding to the gains in the previous session, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is moving well above the 9,050 level, with gains across most sector led by mining and technology stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 58.60 points or 0.65 percent to 9,090.50, after touching a high of 9,115.20 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 63.30 points or 0.68 percent to 9,387.90. Australian stocks closed modestly higher on Monday.

Among the major miners, BHP Group is gaining more than 2 percent, Mineral Resources is advancing almost 4 percent, Rio Tinto is adding almost 2 percent and Fortescue is up almost 1 percent. Oil stocks are mostly higher. Origin Energy is adding almost 1 percent, Woodside Energy is gaining more than 1 percent, Santos is edging up 0.5 percent and Beach energy is surging almost 5 percent.

Among tech stocks, Afterpay owner Block is gaining more than 1 percent and WiseTech Global is adding almost 2 percent, while Xero is losing more than 1 percent and Zip is tumbling more than 6 percent. Appen is relatively flat.

Gold miners are mostly higher. Northern Star resources is gaining more than 2 percent, Resolute Mining is edging up 0.2 percent, Evolution Mining is advancing more than 4 percent, Newmont is adding almost 2 percent and Genesis Minerals is up almost 1 percent.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank and ANZ Banking are gaining almost 1 percent each, while National Australia Bank and Westpac are edging down 0.1 to 0.3 percent each.

In other news, shares in Alcoa are jumping almost 8 percent and Arafura Rare Earths are surging more than 6 percent after a multi-billion deal between the US and Australia to bolster rare earths and critical mineral supplies amidst US-China trade tensions.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.652 on Tuesday.