Australian Market Slips To Notable Losses In Mid-market

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is slipping to notable losses in mid-market moves on Friday after opening well in the green, extending the slight losses in the previous two sessions, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is falling well below the 8,900 level, with weakness in gold miners and technology stocks partially offset by gains in financial and energy stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 63.10 points or 0.71 percent to 8,864.40, after touching a high of 8,971.60 and a low of 8,863.50 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 79.10 points or 0.86 percent to 9,157.80. Australian stocks closed slightly lower on Thursday.

Among major miners, Fortescue is losing more than 2 percent, Mineral Resources is declining more than 3 percent, BHP Group is edging down 0.1 percent and Rio Tinto are losing more than 1 percent. Oil stocks are mostly higher. Santos is advancing almost 2 percent, while Woodside Energy and Beach energy are gaining more than 1 percent each. Origin Energy is losing almost 1 percent. Among tech stocks, Afterpay-owner Block is losing almost 4 percent, Zip is slipping almost 3 percent, Xero is declining more than 1 percent and WiseTech Global is down almost 2 percent, while Appen is again skyrocketing more than 27 after reporting upbeat revenues for the fourth quarter, driven by growth in its China and global businesses.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank, ANZ Banking and National Australia Bank are edging up 0.3 to 0.5 percent each, while Westpac is gaining more than 1 percent. Gold miners are weak. Evolution Mining is declining almost 5 percent, Genesis Minerals is tumbling almost 7 percent and Northern Star Resources is losing more than 1 percent, while Resolute Mining and Newmont are sliding more than 5 percent each..

In other news, shares in Ioneer are tumbling almost 19 percent after the lithium and boron company announced the receipt of firm commitments from institutional, professional, and sophisticated investors to raise approximately US$50 million.

In economic news, producer prices in Australia were up 0.8 percent on quarter in the fourth quarter of 2025, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Friday. That beat forecasts for an increase of 0.6 percent, which would have been unchanged. On a yearly basis, process jumped 3.5 percent - unchanged and matching expectations.

Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of Australia said total credit in Australia was up 0.8 percent on month in December, exceeding expectations for 0.6 percent, which would have been unchanged. Credit was up 7.7 percent on year.

Housing credit was up 0.7 percent on month and 6.9 percent on year, while personal credit rose 0.5 percent on month and 4.0 percent on year and business credit gained 1.0 percent on month and 9.7 percent ion year. Broad money rose 0.5 percent on month and 7.2 percent on year.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.699 on Friday.