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 three sessions, 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 in mining and technology stocks partially offset by gains in energy and financial stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 64.80 points or 0.74 percent to 8,662.90, after hitting a low of 8,659.50 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 68.20 points or 0.77 percent to 8,826.40. Australian stocks ended slightly lower on Wednesday.

Among major miners, BHP Group is losing almost 3 percent, Mineral Resources is slipping more than 5 percent, Fortescue is sliding more than 4 percent and Rio Tinto is declining more than 3 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly higher. Woodside Energy and Beach energy are gaining almost 2 percent each, while Origin Energy is adding more than 1 percent and Santos is advancing almost 1 percent.

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block are edging down 0.5 percent, WiseTech Global is losing more than 1 percent, Appen is declining almost 3 percent and Zip is slipping almost 2 percent, while Xero is gaining almost 2 percent.

Among the big four banks, ANZ Banking and Commonwealth Bank are edging up 0.4 to 0.5 percent each, while Westpac and National Australia Bank are gaining almost 1 percent each.

Among gold miners, Evolution Mining and Genesis Minerals are slipping almost 2 percent each, while Northern Star Resources is declining more than 1 percent, Resolute Mining is edging down 0.3 percent and Newmont is down almost 1 percent.

In other news, shares in Maas Group are plunging almost 22 percent after the troubled IPO of AI infrastructure and data center firm Firmus as its IPO faces repricing and cutting its target market valuation.

Shares in Lovisa Holdings are tumbling almost 7 percent after Its CFO resigned.

In economic news, Australia's consumer inflation expectations rose to 5.3 percent in October 2026, up from 4.9 percent in the prior two months and reaching their highest level since June. The outlook was reinforced by August data showing trimmed mean CPI remained elevated at 3.6 percent on year, its highest since September 2024 and above the Reserve Bank of Australia's 2-3 percent target range.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.696 on Thursday.