Australian Market Slightly Extends Early Losses In Mid-market

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is slightly extending its early losses in mid-market trading on Monday, reversing some of the gains in the previous session, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street on Friday. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index is staying near the 8,350.00 level, with weakness in mining, energy and financial stocks partially offset by gains in gold miners and technology stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 8.90 points or 0.11 percent to 8,352.00, after hitting a low of 8,345.50 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 5.70 points or 0.07 percent to 8,581.00. Australian stocks closed modestly higher on Friday.

Among the major miners, BHP Group and Mineral Resources are edging down 0.1 to 0.2 percent each, while Rio Tinto is losing more than 2 percent. Fortescue Metals is edging up 0.2 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly lower. Woodside Energy and Beach energy are edging down 0.2 to 0.4 percent each, while Origin Energy is declining almost 5 percent. Santos is gaining almost 1 percent.

Among tech stocks, Afterpay owner Block and Xero are edging up 0.2 to 0.4 percent each, while Appen is adding more than 2 percent and WiseTech Global is gaining almost 6 percent after it agreed to acquire U.S.-based E2open for US$2.1 billion or A$3.25 billion. Zip is flat.

Gold miners are mostly higher. Evolution Mining is gaining more than 3 percent, Resolute Mining is up more than 2 percent, Northern Star Resources is adding almost 2 percent and Gold Road Resources is edging up 0.2 percent, while Newmont is edging down 0.3 percent.

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

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.653 on Monday.