Australian Market Extends Early Losses In Mid-market

(RTTNews) - The Australian market is extending early losses in mid-market moves on Thursday, reversing some of the gains in the previous two sessions, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is falling below the 8,550 level, with weakness in gold miners, energy and technology stocks partially offset by gains in iron ore miners. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 12.50 points or 0.15 percent to 8,546.70, after hitting a low of 8,533.00 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 10.80 points or 0.12 percent to 8,769.10. Australian stocks ended slightly higher on Wednesday.

Among major miners, Rio Tinto and Fortescue Metals are edging up 0.3 percent each, while Mineral Resources is gaining almost 5 percent. BHP Group is flat.

Oil stocks are mostly lower. Origin Energy is losing almost 1 percent, while Beach energy and Woodside Energy are edging down 0.2 to 0.3 percent each. Santos is gaining almost 1 percent

In the tech space, WiseTech Global and Zip are edging down 0.2 to 0.4 percent each, while Afterpay owner Block is losing more than 1 percent and Xero is tumbling more than 5 percent after the software giant agreed to a $3.9 billion acquisition of American accounting and invoicing platform Melio Payments. Appen is adding almost 3 percent.

Among the big four banks, Westpac and National Australia Bank are edging down 0.2 to 0.4 percent each, while ANZ Banking is gaining more than 1 percent and Commonwealth Bank is edging up 0.1 percent.

Among gold miners, Northern Star Resources is declining almost 3 percent, Evolution Mining is losing more than 2 percent, Gold Road Resources is down more than 1 percent and Newmont is edging down 0.3 percent, while Resolute Mining is gaining more than 1 percent.

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