Australian Market Extends Early Strong Gains In Mid-market

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is extending its early strong gains in mid-market trading on Monday, reversing the losses in the previous two sessions, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street on Friday. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index is moving well above the 8,850.00 level, with gains across most sectors led by gold miners and technology stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 162.20 points or 1.86 percent to 8,871.00, after touching a high of 8,886.90 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 175.70 points or 1.96 percent to 9,130.30. Australian stocks closed sharply lower on Friday.

Among the major miners, BHP Group is gaining almost 2 percent and Mineral Resources is adding almost 1 percent, while Rio Tinto and Fortescue are advancing more than 2 percent each.

Oil stocks are mostly higher. Santos and Woodside Energy are gaining more than 1 percent each, while Origin Energy is edging up 0.3 percent. Beach energy is losing almost 1 percent.

Among tech stocks, Afterpay owner Block jumping almost 7 percent, WiseTech Global is advancing almost 4 percent, Appen is surging almost 10 percent, Zip is advancing more than 6 percent and Xero is gaining almost 1 percent.

Gold miners are higher. Northern Star Resources is adding more than 2 percent, Resolute Mining is jumping more than 7 percent and Newmont is surging almost 6 percent, while Evolution Mining and Genesis Minerals are gaining more than 3 percent each.

Among the big four banks, Westpac ,National Australia Bank and Commonwealth Bank are gaining almost 1 percent each, while ANZ Banking is adding 1.5 percent. In other news, shares in Pepper Money are soaring more than 23 percent after the non-bank lender announced it had received an indicative, non-binding proposal to take it private at $2.60 per share from Challenger to acquire 100 per cent of the company. Shares in Challenger fell 3.7 percent.

Shares in Web Travel are jumping more than 18 percent as it reiterated its full-year earnings guidance after its shares slid almost 30 per cent on Friday on news that its Spanish subsidiary would be audited.

Shares in Bravura Solutions are skyrocketing more than 28 after the wealth management software provider announced a material upgrade to its fiscal 2026 guidance, signalling further progress in the company's turnaround story.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.702 on Monday.