Australian Market Extends Early Losses In Mid-market

(RTTNews) - The Australian market is extending its early losses in mid-market moves on Thursday, adding to the losses in the previous session, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is falling well below the 8,800 level, as markets digested a softer-than-expected domestic jobs report, with weakness across most sectors led by mining and energy stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 51.60 points or 0.59 percent to 8,766.90, after hitting a low of 8,737.50 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 45.30 points or 0.50 percent to 9,049.60. Australian stocks ended notably lower on Wednesday.

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

Oil stocks are mostly lower. Beach energy is losing almost 4 percent, Origin is declining almost 2 percent and Woodside Energy is tumbling almost 6 percent, while Santos is plunging almost 12 percent after the XRG Consortium dropped its takeover bid for the energy company.

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block is gaining more than 2 percent, Zip is edging up 0.3 percent and Appen is adding almost 2 percent, while Xero is edging down 0.2 percent and WiseTech Global is losing almost 1 percent.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank is losing almost 2 percent and ANZ Banking edging down 0.2 percent, while National Australia Bank and Westpac are edging up 0.1 to 0.5 percent each.

Among gold miners, Evolution Mining is losing almost 2 percent, while Gold Road Resources and Resolute Mining are edging down 0.4 percent each. Newmont is adding almost 1 percent. Northern Star Resources is flat.

In economic news, Australia's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate stood at 4.2 percent in August 2025, unchanged from the previous month and in line with market expectations. The participation rate declined to 66.8%, just below the market expectation of 67.

Meanwhile, employment unexpectedly declined by 5,400 to 14.63 million in August, missing forecasts of a 22,000 increase, following an upwardly revised gain of 26,500 in July and marking the first decline in three months. On a yearly basis, total employment still rose by 217,200, or 1.5 percent.

The employment-to-population ratio slipped to 64.0 percent from 64.1 percent, while the participation rate fell to 66.8 percent from 67.0 percent.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.665 on Thursday.