Australian Market Extends Early Losses In Mid-market

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is extending its early losses in mid-market moves on Friday, adding to the losses in the previous session, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is falling almost 2 percent to stay just above the 7,700 level, with weakness across most sectors led by energy and technology stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 144.80 points or 1.84 percent to 7,714.90, after hitting a low of 7,704.60 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 155.40 points or 1.93 percent to 7,897.30. Australian stocks closed significantly lower on Thursday.

Among major miners, BHP Group and Rio Tinto are losing almost 1 percent each, while Mineral Resources is declining more than 5 percent and Fortescue Metals is edging up 0.4 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly lower. Origin Energy, Beach energy and Santos are slipping more than 7 percent each, while Woodside Energy is tumbling more than 8 percent.

Among tech stocks, Afterpay-owner Block is losing more than 5 percent, Zip is tumbling almost 12 percent and Xero are declining more than 2 percent, while Appen and WiseTech Global are slipping more than 6 percent each.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank is losing almost 1 percent and National Australia Bank is edging down 0.2 percent, while ANZ Banking and Westpac are declining almost 2 percent each. Gold miners are mostly higher. Evolution Mining is edging down 0.3 percent, Resolute Mining is declining more than 1 percent and Newmont is losing more than 2 percent, while Northern Star Resources is gaining almost 3 percent and Gold Road Resources is advancing more than 4 percent.

In other news, shares in Amotiv are plummeting almost 16 percent after the car accessories manufacturer warned it expects lower revenue growth and earnings this financial year.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.629 on Friday.