Australian Market Maintains Gains In Mid-market

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is maintaining its early gains in mid-market trading on Friday, reversing the losses in the previous session, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is moving above the 8,400 level, with gains in financial and technology stocks partially offset by weakness in mining and energy stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 33.90 points or 0.41 percent to 8,412.60, after touching a high of 8,421.10 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 35.40 points or 0.41 percent to 8,664.50. Australian stocks closed notably lower on Thursday.

Among major miners, Fortescue Metals is edging up 0.2 percent, while Rio Tinto and Mineral Resources are edging down 0.2 to 0.5 percent each. BHP Group is flat.

Oil stocks are mostly lower. Santos is edging down 0.4 percent, while Beach energy is losing almost 1 percent and Woodside Energy is down more than 1 percent. Origin Energy is gaining more than 1 percent.

Among tech stocks, Appen is gaining more than 2 percent and Xero is edging up 0.5 percent, while Zip is losing almost 1 percent. Afterpay-owner Block and WiseTech Global are flat.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank and National Australia Bank are gaining almost 1 percent each, while Westpac and ANZ Banking are edging up 0.4 to 0.5 percent each. Gold miners are mostly lower. Evolution Mining is declining more than 2 percent, Northern Star Resources is losing almost 1 percent and Gold Road Resources is edging down 0.2 percent, while Resolute Mining is gaining almost 1 percent and Newmont is edging up 0.4 percent.

In other news, shares in Kogan.com are tumbling more than 12 percent after the online retailer posted strong results for the first half of the 2025 financial year, but was short of market expectations.

Shares in 4DMedical jumped more than 7 percent after the company struck a deal with Queensland-based Qscan Radiology Clinics to supply proprietary pulmonary function and pulmonary structure products.

Shares in Synlait Milk are skyrocketing more than 25 percent after the dairy processor boosted its guidance for the first-half and said the company would "return to profitability" this year.

In economic news, the manufacturing sector in Australia continued to contract in January, albeit at a slower pace, the latest survey from S&P Global revealed on Friday with a manufacturing PMI score of 49.8. That's up from 47.8 in December, although it remains beneath the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction.

Also, the services PMI slipped to 50.4 from 50.8 in December, while the composite PMI rose to a five-month high of 50.3 from 50.2 in the previous month.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.631 on Friday.