Australian Market Maintains Early Losses In Mid-market

(RTTNews) - The Australian market is maintaining its early losses in mid-market moves on Thursday, reversing the gains in the previous session, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is falling well below the 8,800k level, with weakness across most sectors led by gold miners, energy and technology stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 29.30 points or 0.33 percent to 8,779.10, after hitting a low of 8,756.20 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 33.60 points or 0.37 percent to 8,979.00. Australian stocks ended modestly higher on Wednesday.

Among major miners, BHP Group and Rio Tinto are declining more than 1 percent each, while Mineral Resources is losing almost 3 percent. Fortescue is edging up 0.1 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly lower. Beach energy is tumbling more than 5 percent and Origin Energy is edging down 0.1 percent, while Santos and Woodside Energy are losing almost 2 percent.

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block is surging almost 6 percentZip is gaining almost 1 percent, while Appen is edging down 0.3 percent, WiseTech Global is losing more than 4 percent and Xero is down more than 1 percent.

Among the big four banks, ANZ Banking and Westpac are declining more than 1 percent each, while National Australia Bank is losing more than 3 percent and Commonwealth Bank is down almost 1 percent.

Among gold miners, Evolution Mining and Newmont are losing almost 2 percent each, while Northern Star Resources is declining more than 2 percent, Genesis Minerals is tumbling almost 6 percent and Resolute Mining is sliding almost 5 percent.

In other news, shares in Judo Capital are plummeting 38 percent after the lender downgraded its profit guidance for FY26 amid a deterioration in asset quality that has lifted provisioning charges.

Shares in Lendlease Group are in a trading halt, pending further updates from the company.

In economic news, household spending in Australia rose 1.3 percent on month in May 2026, rebounding from a 1.1 percent decline in April. On an annual basis, household spending increased 5.5 percent.

Meanwhile, employment in Australia rose by 40,300 to 14.74 million in May 2026, rebounding from a revised decline of 40,700 in the previous month and surpassing market expectations for a 30,000 increase. It marked the strongest employment gain since December. The employment-to-population ratio edged up to 63.8 percent from 63.7 percent, marking its first increase in six months. The participation rate ticked up to 66.7 percent from 66.6 precent.

Australia's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate inched down to 4.4 percent in May, from April's more than four-year high of 4.5 percent, in line with market expectations. The number of unemployed fell by 18,300 to 671,300 from 689,600 in April. The participation rate edged up to 66.7 percent from a downwardly revised 66.6 percent in April, matching market estimates. The underemployment rate inched up to 5.9 percent from 5.8 percent.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.689 on Thursday.