Australian Market Holds Early Gains In Mid-market

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is holding on to the early gains in mid-market trading on Tuesday, reversing the losses in the previous session, despite the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is staying well above the 8,550 level, with gains in mining, financial and energy partially offset by weakness in technology stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 20.30 points or 0.24 percent to 8,585.50, after touching a high of 8,602.50 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 15.90 points or 0.18 percent to 8,882.30. Australian stocks closed notably lower on Monday.

Among the major miners, BHP Group and Rio Tinto are gaining more than 1 percent each, while Fortescue is adding almost 1 percent. Mineral Resources is edging down 0.2 percent. Oil stocks are mostly higher. Woodside Energy and Santos are adding more than 1 percent each, while Beach energy is gaining almost 2 percent. Origin Energy is flat.

Among tech stocks, Afterpay owner Block is losing more than 2 percent, Zip is tumbling almost 9 percent, Appen is down almost 1 percent, Xero is edging down 0.4 percent and WiseTech Global is declining more than 2 percent.

Gold miners are mostly higher. Evolution Mining and Newmont are edging up 0.2 to 0.5 percent each, while Genesis Minerals and Resolute Mining are gaining more than 1 percent each. Northern Star resources is adding almost 1 percent.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank and National Australia Bank are edging up 0.1 to 0.2 percent each, while ANZ Banking is gaining almost 1 percent. Westpac is edging down 0.1 percent.

In economic news, the total number of building permits issued in Australia was down a seasonally adjusted 6.4 percent on month in October, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Tuesday - coming in at 15,832. That missed expectations for a decline of 4.3 percent following the downwardly revised 11.1 percent jump in September (originally 12.0 percent).

On a yearly basis, approvals dipped1.8 percent - again shy of expectations for a gain of 12.4 percent following the 14.9 percent jump in the previous month. The value of total residential building fell 11.8 percent to A$9.03 billion, while non-residential building rose 11.6 percent to A$7.13 billion.

Meanwhile, Australia posted a current account deficit of A$16.646 Billion in the third quarter of 2025, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Tuesday. That missed expectations for a shortfall of A$13.4 billion following the downwardly revised A$16.2 billion deficit (originally -13.7 billion).

The capital and financial account surplus was A$31.062 billion, an increase of A$13.642 billion from the previous quarter. The terms of trade increased 0.3 percent to 95.5, up from 95.2 in Q2. The net primary income deficit decreased to A$18.7 billion, following the A$19.0 billion shortfall in the three months prior.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.654 on Tuesday.