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 some of the gains in the previous two sessions, despite the broadly positive cues from European markets and lack of cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index is falling well below the 8,700 level, with weakness across most sectors led by mining, energy and technology stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 34.10 points or 0.39 percent to 8,657.90, after hitting a low of 8,628.90 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 36.30 points or 0.41 percent to 8,879.10. Australian stocks closed modestly higher on Monday.

Among the major miners, Rio Tinto is edging up 0.2 percent, while Mineral Resources, Fortescue and BHP Group are edging down 0.3 to 0.4 percent each.

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

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

Gold miners are mostly lower. Resolute Mining, Northern Star Resources and Evolution Mining are down more than 1 percent each, Newmont is declining almost 3 percent and Genesis Minerals is losing almost 2 percent.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank and National Australia Bank are edging down 0.3 to 0.5 percent each, while ANZ Banking and Westpac are edging up 0.1 to 0.5 percent each.

In other news, shares in Kogan.com are soaring more than 15 percent after it reported upbeat sales for the second half.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.717 on Tuesday.