Australian Market Extends Early Gains In Mid-market

(RTTNews) - The Australian market is extending its early gains in mid-market moves on Thursday, reversing the losses in the previous session, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is surging 2 percent to above the 9,000 mark, with strong gains in mining and technology stocks partially offset by weakness in energy and financial stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 171.80 points or 1.94 percent to 9,006.30, after touching a high of 9,012.30 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 191.30 points or 2.14 percent to 9,146.20. Australian stocks ended notably lower on Wednesday.

Among major miners, BHP Group is advancing almost 6 percent, Mineral Resources is jumping more than 9 percent, Fortescue is soaring more than 8 percent and Rio Tinto are surging almost 7 percent each.

Oil stocks are mostly lower. Beach energy is losing almost 1 percent, Origin Energy is down more than 1 percent and Santos is slipping more than 5 percent. Woodside Energy is sliding more than 6 percent after a capital markets day update revealed that it was targeting more than 500 job cuts.

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block is surging almost 7 percent, Xero is jumping more than 10 percent, WiseTech Global is advancing almost 5 percent, Appen is rising almost 10 percent and Zip is soaring almost 17 percent.

Among the big four banks, ANZ Banking is declining more than 2 percent, Commonwealth Bank is down almost 1 percent, Westpac is edging down 0.4 percent and National Australia Bank is tumbling almost 7 percent on downbeat full-year results.

Among gold miners, Evolution Mining is jumping more than 13 percent, Northern Star Resources is surging more than 8 percent, Resolute Mining is advancing almost 14 percent, Genesis Minerals is gaining more than 14 percent and Newmont is soaring more than 12 percent.

In other news, shares in NextDC are skyrocketing 47 percent after Goodman Group and US-listed Digital Realty Trust launched an aftermarket "share raid" to acquire up to a 9.9% stake in the company at A$9.50 per share.

Shares in Rea Group are soaring more than 11 percent following a strong first-quarter trading update.

Shares in Eagers Automotive are plunging more than 15 percent following disappointing trading update for the third quarter that was impacted by industry-wide headwinds.

In economic news, Australia posted a merchandise trade surplus of A$2.826 billion in September, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Thursday. That beat expectations for a surplus of A$0.940 billion and was up from the A$0.184 billion surplus in August.

Exports rose 2.3 percent on month to A$48.434 billion, slowing from 3.7 percent in the previous month. Exports sank 3.3 percent on month to A$45.609 billion after jumping 6.2 percent a month earlier.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.702 on Thursday.