Australian Market Extends Early Losses In Mid-market

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is extending to its early losses in mid-market trading on Monday, adding to the losses in the previous session, following the mixed cues from Wall Street on Friday. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index is staying below the 8,450.00 level, with weakness across most sectors led by in iron ore miners and technology stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 17.30 points or 0.21 percent to 8,417.40, after hitting a low of 8,401.10 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 18.70 points or 0.22 percent to 8,641.60. Australian stocks closed modestly lower on Friday.

Among the major miners, BHP Group is losing more than 1 percent, Rio Tinto is declining more than 2 percent, Mineral Resources is tumbling more than 7 percent and Fortescue Metals is down almost 3 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly lower. Origin Energy is down almost 2 percent and Woodside Energy is edging down 0.3 percent, while Beach energy and Santos are losing more than 1 percent each.

Among tech stocks, Afterpay owner Block and Zip are losing almost 3 percent each, while Appen is sliding more than 6 percent and WiseTech Global is down more than 1 percent. Xero is gaining more than 2 percent.

Gold miners are mostly higher. Evolution Mining is gaining almost 2 percent, Northern Star Resources is edging up 0.3 percent and Newmont and are adding almost 1 percent, while Resolute Mining is down almost 1 percent and Gold Road Resources is losing more than 1 percent.

Among the big four banks, National Australia Bank and ANZ Banking are down almost 1 percent each, while Westpac is losing almost 2 percent. Commonwealth Bank is edging up 0.1 percent.

In other news, shares in Soul Patts are leaping almost 12 percent and shares in Brickworks are skyrocketing almost 22 percent after the two blue chip companies announced a $14 billion merger to form ASX-listed investments, private capital, property and building products giant.

In economic news, the manufacturing sector in Australia continued to expand in May, albeit at a slower pace, the latest survey from S&P Global revealed on Monday with a manufacturing PMI score of 51.0. That's down from 51.7 in April, although it remains above the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.646 on Monday.