Australian Market Halves Gains In Mid-market

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market has halved its early gains in mid-market trading on Friday, but extending the gains in the previous two sessions, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is moving well above the 8,500 level after hitting all-time highs, with gains is mining and technology stocks partially offset by weakness in financial stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 32.90 points or 0.39 percent to 8,526.60, after touching an all-time high of 8,566.90 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 39.20 points or 0.44 percent to 8,785.10. Australian stocks closed notably higher on Thursday.

Among major miners, BHP Group is adding more than 1 percent, Rio Tinto is gaining almost 1 percent and Fortescue Metals is edging up 0.4 percent, while Mineral Resources is losing almost 1 percent.

Oil stocks are mixed. Origin Energy is losing almost 6 percent and Santos is edging down 0.2 percent, while Woodside Energy and Beach energy are edging up 0.3 to 0.5 percent each.

Among tech stocks, WiseTech Global is adding almost 1 percent, Xero is advancing more than 2 percent and Zip is rising more than 1 percent. Afterpay-owner Block is in a trading halt. Appen is soaring more than 13 percent after reporting upbeat quarterly results.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank and Westpac are edging down 0.1 to 0.2 percent each, while ANZ Banking are losing almost 1 percent. National Australia Bank is edging up 0.1 percent. Gold miners are mostly higher. Evolution Mining and Northern Star Resources are advancing almost 3 percent each, while Resolute Mining is gaining more than 1 percent and Newmont is adding almost 4 percent. Gold Road Resources is flat.

In economic news, final demand producer prices in Australia were up 0.8 percent on quarter in the fourth quarter of 2024, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Friday. That was shy of expectations for 1.0 percent and down from 0.9 percent in the third quarter. On a yearly basis, producer prices climbed 3.7 percent - easing from 3.9 percent in the three months prior.

Meanwhile, private sector credit in Australia was up a seasonally adjusted 0.6 percent on month in December, the Reserve Bank of Australia said on Friday - unchanged from the previous month and exceeding expectations for 0.5 percent. On a yearly basis, private sector credit was up 8.6 percent.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.621 on Friday.