Australian Market Extends Early Losses In Mid-market

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is extending its early losses in mid-market trading on Tuesday, reversing the gains in the previous session, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is falling well below the 8,850 level, with weakness in iron ore miners, financial, energy and technology stocks partially offset by gains in gold miners and stocks.

Traders cautiously look ahead to the Reserve Bank of Australia's interest rate decision later in the day and RBA Governor Michele Bullock's press conference. The RBA is widely anticipated to keep interest rates unchanged at 3.60 percent.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 79.80 points or 0.90 percent to 8,815.00, after hitting a low of 8,815.20 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 83.40 points or 0.91 percent to 9,099.10. Australian stocks closed modestly higher on Monday.

Among the major miners, BHP Group is losing almost 3 percent, Rio Tinto is declining more than 2 percent and Fortescue is down more than 1 percent, while Mineral Resources is edging up 0.2 percent. Oil stocks are mostly lower. Santos is edging down 0.2 percent and Origin Energy is declining more than 3 percent, while Woodside Energy and Beach energy are losing almost 1 percent each.

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

Gold miners are mostly higher. Northern Star resources is gaining more than 1 percent and Genesis Minerals is adding more than 2 percent, while Evolution Mining and Newmont are edging up 0.3 to 0.4 percent each. Resolute Mining is declining almost 4 percent.

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

In other news, shares in Novonix are tumbling more than 11 percent following the cancellation of an offtake agreement with Stellantis for synthetic graphite material.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.653 on Tuesday.