Australian Market Maintains Early Losses In Mid-market

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is maintaining its early losses in mid-market trading on Tuesday, extending the losses in the previous session, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index is falling to near the 9,050 mark, with weakness in technology and financial stocks partially offset by gains in gold miners and energy stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 30.60 points or 0.34 percent to 9,045.40, after hitting a low of 9,023.80 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 35.60 points or 0.38 percent to 9,235.80. Australian stocks closed modestly lower on Monday.

Among the major miners, Rio Tinto, Fortescue and BHP Group are edging up 0.2 percent each, while Mineral Resources is edging down 0.3 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly higher. Beach energy, Origin Energy, Santos and Woodside Energy are gaining almost 1 percent each.

Among tech stocks, Afterpay owner Block is losing almost 2 percent and Xero is edging down 0.2 percent, while WiseTech Global, Appen and Zip are down more than 1 percent each.

Gold miners are mostly higher. Evolution Mining is edging up 0.2 percent, Genesis Minerals is advancing almost 2 percent, Resolute Mining is advancing more than 4 percent and Northern Star Resources is gaining almost 1 percent, while Newmont is losing almost 1 percent.

Among the big four banks, ANZ Banking is edging up 0.2 percent, while National Australia Bank, Commonwealth Bank and Westpac are edging down 0.1 to 0.4 percent each.

In economic news, the manufacturing sector in Australia continued to expand at a steady pace, the latest survey from S&P Global revealed on Tuesday with a manufacturing PMI score of 52.0, the highest level since January. That was unchanged from the July reading and it remains above the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction.

Meanwhile, Australia posted a current account deficit of A$27.2 billion in the second quarter of 2026, the Australian Bureau of Statistics or ABS said on Tuesday. That beat forecasts for a shortfall of A$29.7 billion following the upwardly revised A$25.4 billion deficit in the three months prior (originally a deficit of A$27.1 billion).

The capital and financial account surplus was A$5.3 billion, a decrease of A$11.3 billion on the Q1 surplus. Australia's net international investment liability position was A$638.9 billion in Q2, a decrease of A$122.8 billion on the revised Q1 position of A$761.7 billion.

The ABS also said the total number of building permits issued in Australia was down a seasonally adjusted 3.6 percent on month in July, coming in at 17,687. That beat expectations for a decline of 4.8 percent following the 7.2 percent gain in June. The value of total building work approved rose 3.3 percent to A$21.19 billion, after a 1.5 percent June fall. On a yearly basis, approvals rose 9.0 percent - slowing from 28.8 percent in the previous month.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.717 on Tuesday.