Australian Market Extends Early Losses In Mid-market

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is extending its early losses in mid-market moves on Wednesday after opening in the green, adding to the losses in the previous session, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 falling below the 8,750 level, despite the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight, with weakness in gold miners, energy and financial stocks partially offset by slight gains iron ore miners.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 43.40 points or 0.49 percent to 8,735.30, after hitting a low of 8,721.40 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 41.00 points or 0.46 percent to 8,945.20. Australian stocks ended notably lower on Tuesday.

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

Oil stocks are mostly lower. Woodside Energy is losing almost 1 percent and Origin Energy is down more than 1 percent, while Santos and Beach energy is edging down 0.3 to 0.4 percent each.

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block is declining almost 4 percent, Zip is losing more than 2 percent and Xero is slipping almost 1 percent, while WiseTech Global is gaining almost 1 percent and Appen is up more than 1 percent.

Among the big four banks, Westpac is declining almost 2 percent and ANZ Banking is edging down 0.5 percent, while Commonwealth Bank and National Australia bank are losing more than 1 percent each.

Among gold miners, Evolution Mining is losing more than 1 percent, while Genesis Minerals and Resolute Mining are declining almost 2 percent each. Northern Star Resources is edging up 0.2 percent. Newmont is flat.

In other news, shares in IperionX are surging almost 9 percent after it secured up to US$6.6 million or A$9.54 million from the US Department of Defence to expand domestic production of ballistic-grade titanium plate and large-format defence components at its Virginia manufacturing campus.

Shares in Coles are tumbling more than 6 percent after the ACCC blocked the supermarket giant's proposed acquisition of a leasehold interest in Kalgoorlie-Boulder, Western Australia.

In economic news, the manufacturing sector in Australia continued to expand in June, and at a faster pace, the latest survey from S&P Global revealed on Wednesday with a manufacturing PMI core of 51.5. That's up from 50.7 in May and it moves further above the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction.

The Ai Group Industry Index for Australia's construction sector plunged 26.9 points to -38.1 in June 2026, marking its lowest reading since March and signaling a sharp deterioration in business conditions.

Australia's seasonally adjusted dwelling approvals fell 1.1 percent month-on-month to a four-month low of 17,019 units in May 2026, following a 0.2 percent decline in the previous month and slightly worse than market expectations of a 1.0 percent drop, according to preliminary data. Annually, total dwelling approvals rose 5.3 percent, slowing from a 10.9 percent increase in April.

Meanwhile, private house approvals in Australia rose by 2.8 percent month-over-month to 10,537 units in May 2026, according to preliminary estimates, rebounding from a revised 0.4 percent decline in the previous month. The latest reading marked the highest since September 2025. Annually, private house approvals rose by 13.2 percent in May, the strongest growth since September 2024, and accelerating from an upwardly revised 8.3 percent increase in the preceding period.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.689 on Wednesday.