Australian Market Halves Early Gains In Mid-market

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is halving its early gains in mid-market trading on Monday, but extending the gains in the previous three sessions, following the mixed cues from Wall Street on Friday. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index is staying well above the 8,200.00 level, with gains across most sectors led by iron ore miners, financial and energy stocks. Gold miners are the only weak spot.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 17.40 points or 0.21 percent to 8,248.60, after touching a high of 8,279.30 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 16.70 points or 0.20 percent to 8,479.30. Australian stocks closed notably higher on Friday.

Among the major miners, BHP Group and Rio Tinto are gaining almost 2 percent each, while Fortescue Metals is adding almost 1 percent and Mineral Resources is surging more than 6 percent. Oil stocks are mostly higher. Woodside Energy is advancing more than 2 percent, Santos is adding more than 3 percent, Beach energy is rising more than 4 percent and Origin Energy is edging down 0.5 percent.

Among tech stocks, Afterpay owner Block is gaining more than 4 percent and WiseTech Global is adding more than 2 percent. Xero and Appen are edging down 0.5 percent each, while Zip is losing more than 1 percent.

Gold miners are mostly lower. Evolution Mining is sliding almost 5 percent, Resolute Mining declining 2.5 percent, Northern Star Resources is losing almost 3 percent and Newmont is down more than 3 percent. Gold Road Resources is flat.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank and Westpac are edging up 0.3 to 0.5 percent each, while ANZ Banking is gaining almost 1 percent. National Australia Bank is losing more than 2 percent.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.643 on Monday.