Australian Market Sharply Extends Early Losses In Mid-market

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is sharply extending its early losses in mid-market moves on Friday after briefly tipping in to the green, reversing the gains in the previous session, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is falling below the 8,800 level, with weakness in iron ore miners and technology stocks partially offset by gains in gold miners, energy and financial stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 38.00 points or 0.43 percent to 8,790.30, after hitting a low of 8,790.90 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 43.70 points or 0.48 percent to 9,054.90. Australian stocks closed modestly higher on Thursday.

Among major miners, BHP Group is losing almost 1 percent, Mineral Resources is declining almost 3 percent, Rio Tinto is slipping more than 1 percent and Fortescue are down almost 2 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly higher. Origin Energy and Santos are edging up 0.2 to 0.3 percent each, while Woodside Energy is adding more than 1 percent and Beach energy is gaining almost 2 percent. Among tech stocks, Afterpay-owner Block is tumbling more than 14 percent, Zip is losing more than 5 percent and Appen down more than 4 percent, while WiseTech Global and Xero are declining almost 2 percent each.

Among the big four banks, ANZ Banking is edging down 0.4 percent, Westpac is declining more than 1 percent and Commonwealth Bank is losing almost 1 percent, while National Australia Bank is advancing more than 1 percent.

Gold miners are mostly higher. Resolute Mining is gaining more than 3 percent, Newmont is advancing almost 3 percent and Genesis Minerals is adding almost 1 percent, while Northern Star Resources and Evolution Mining are edging up 0.1 to 0.5 percent each.

In other news, shares in Qantas-backed Alliance Aviation are plummeting almost 40 percent on resumption of trading after a voluntary suspension. The aviation services provider warned FY26 results would fall well short of analyst expectations due to higher aircraft, engine and maintenance costs. Founding managing director Scott McMillan stepped down from the board immediately, with chief financial officer Andrew Evans also resigning. The company noting the departures are unrelated to its outlook.

Shares in Macquarie Group are tumbling more than 7 percent after the investment bank reported downbeat half-yearly financial results.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.648 on Friday.