Australian Market Maintains Early Gains In Mid-market

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is maintaining its early gains in mid-market moves on Wednesday, extending the gains in the previous three sessions, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 moving up to near the 9,000 mark, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight, with gains in iron ore miners, energy and technology stocks. Only gold miners lost their shine.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 31.60 points or 0.35 percent to 8,990.50, after touching a high of 9,007.10 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 36.50 points or 0.40 percent to 9,219.00. Australian stocks ended modestly higher on Tuesday.

Among major miners, Fortescue and Rio Tinto are gaining more than 1 percent each, while Mineral Resources is advancing almost 4 percent. BHP Group is losing 1.5 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly higher. Beach energy is adding almost 2 percent, while Woodside Energy and Origin Energy are edging up 0.3 to 0.4 percent each. Santos is losing more than 1 percent.

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block and Xero are gaining almost 2 percent each, while Zip is jumping almost 8 percent, Appen is surging more than 9 percent and WiseTech Global is adding almost 1 percent.

Among the big four banks, National Australia bank is surging more than 4 percent and Westpac is gaining more than 1 percent, while Commonwealth Bank is edging down 0.5 percent. ANZ Banking is flat. Among gold miners, Evolution Mining is losing more than 3 percent, Genesis Minerals is slipping almost 3 percent, Resolute Mining is down almost 1 percent, Northern Star Resources is declining more than 2 percent and Newmont is edging down 0.2 percent.

In economic news, the wage price index in Australia was up a seasonally adjusted 0.8 percent on quarter in the fourth quarter of 2025, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Wednesday - unchanged and in line with expectations. On a yearly basis, wage prices were up 3.4 percent - again matching forecasts and steady from the previous three months.

Individually, private sector wages rose 0.8 percent on quarter and 3.4 percent on year, while public sector wages added 0.8 percent on quarter and 4.0 percent on year.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.708 on Wednesday.