Australian Market Reverses Early Losses To Modest Gains In Mid-market

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is reversing the early losses to modest gains in mid-market moves on Friday, recouping some of the losses in the previous session, despite the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is moving up to near the psychological 8,000 mark, with gains in energy and mining stocks partially offset by weakness in technology stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 18.20 points or 0.23 percent to 7,987.20, after hitting a low of 7,941.50 and a high of 8,001.00 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 16.70 points or 0.20 percent to 8,202.20. Australian stocks closed modestly lower on Thursday.

Among major miners, BHP Group is gaining almost 1 percent and Mineral Resources is advancing more than 2 percent, while. Rio Tinto and Fortescue Metals are adding more than 1 percent each.

Oil stocks are mostly higher. Santos is gaining more than 1 percent, Woodside Energy is adding almost 1 percent and Beach energy is edging up 0.3 percent, while Origin Energy is edging down 0.1 percent.

Among tech stocks, Afterpay-owner Block is losing more than 4 percent, Zip is slipping almost 3 percent, Xero is declining more than 1 percent and WiseTech Global is sliding almost 3 percent. Appen is edging up 0.5 percent.

Among the big four banks, National Australia Bank and ANZ Banking are edging up 0.1 percent each, while Westpac is gaining almost 1 percent. Commonwealth Bank is edging down 0.3 percent.

Gold miners are mostly higher. Evolution Mining is gaining more than 3 percent, Resolute Mining is up 1.5 percent, Northern Star Resources is advancing almost 5 percent and Newmont is adding more than 2 percent, while Gold Road Resources is losing almost 1 percent.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.629 on Friday.