Australian Market Extends Early Losses In Mid-market

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is extending its early losses in choppy mid-market trading on Monday, also adding to the losses in the previous two sessions, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street on Friday. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index is falling below the 8,650.00 level, with weakness in energy, financial and technology stocks partially offset by strong gains in mining stocks.

Meanwhile, Australia has avoided the harshness of the tariffs as Trade Minister Don Farrell confirmed that the US maintained a baseline 10 percent tariff on Australian exports to the US, the lowest rate among impacted countries.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 21.10 points or 0.24 percent to 8,640.90, after hitting a low of 8,630.90 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 19.40 points or 0.22 percent to 8,897.70. Australian stocks closed significantly lower on Friday.

Among the major miners, Fortescue is gaining more than 1 percent and Mineral Resources is adding almost 1 percent, while Rio Tinto and BHP Group are edging up 0.1 to 0.4 percent each.

Oil stocks are mostly lower. Origin Energy and Santos are edging down 0.1 to 0.3 percent each, while Woodside Energy is losing more than 1 percent. Beach energy is gaining 3.5 percent.

Among tech stocks, Afterpay owner Block is declining 4.5 percent, WiseTech Global is losing almost 2 percent, Appen is down more than 1 percent, Zip is slipping 1.5 percent and Xero is edging down 0.1 percent.

Gold miners are mostly higher. Northern Star Resources is surging more than 6 percent, Newmont is up almost 1 percent, Gold Road Resources is gaining more than 2 percent, Evolution Mining is adding 4.5 percent and Resolute Mining is jumping almost 6 percent.

Among the big four banks, National Australia Bank, Westpac and ANZ Banking are losing more than 1 percent each, while Commonwealth Bank is losing almost 1 percent.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.648 on Monday.