Australian Market Extends Early Losses In Mid-market

(RTTNews) - The Australian market is extending its early losses in mid-market moves on Thursday, but reversing the gains in the previous session, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is falling well below the 8,700 level, with weakness across most sectors led by mining and technology stocks. Energy stocks were the only bright spot.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 113.30 points or 1.29 percent to 8,672.40, after hitting a low of 8,652.20 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 112.30 points or 1.25 percent to 8,904.90. Australian stocks ended notably higher on Wednesday.

Among major miners, Rio Tinto is declining more than 4 percent and Mineral Resources is down more than 1 percent, while BHP Group and Fortescue are losing more than 3 percent each.

Oil stocks are mostly higher. Beach energy and Santos are gaining almost 1 percent each, while Origin Energy and Woodside Energy are edging up 0.1 to 0.4 percent each.

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block is tumbling more than 6 percent, Appen is slipping more than 4 percent, WiseTech Global is losing more than 2 percent, Xero are down almost 3 percent and Zip is sliding 3.5 percent.

Among the big four banks, Westpac is declining almost 2 percent each, while ANZ Banking, National Australia Bank and Commonwealth Bank are losing more than 1 percent each.

Among gold miners, Evolution Mining is losing more than 3 percent, Northern Star Resources is declining more than 5 percent and Newmont is down almost 1 percent, while Genesis Minerals and Resolute Mining are slipping almost 3 percent each.

In other news, shares in Treasury Wine Estates are surging almost 10 percent after an Investor Day update revealed a strategic transformation aiming to become a more focused, simpler, and financially stronger wine business through a program called Ascent through cutting costs, simplifying operations, reshaping its supply chain and strengthening its balance sheet.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.713 on Thursday.