Australian Market Swings To Gains In Mid-market

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is swinging to modest gains in mid-market trading on Monday, reversing some of the losses in the previous session, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street on Friday. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index is moving above the 9,000.00 mark, with gains in energy, financial and technology stocks partially offset by steep declines in gold and other mining stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 13.40 points or 0.15 percent to 9,008.70, after hitting a low of 8,963.60 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 10.80 points or 0.12 percent to 9,304.00. Australian stocks closed notably lower on Friday.

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

Oil stocks are mostly higher. Origin Energy is adding almost 1 percent, Santos is gaining more than 1 percent, Beach energy is advancing almost 4 percent and Woodside Energy is edging up 0.3 percent.

Among tech stocks, Afterpay owner Block is adding almost 3 percent, Xero is gaining almost 1 percent and Zip is advancing almost 4 percent, while Appen is losing more than 1 percent. WiseTech Global is flat.

Gold miners are mostly lower. Evolution Mining is declining almost 5 percent, Newmont is tumbling 5.5 percent and Northern Star Resources is slipping more than 3 percent, while Resolute Mining and Genesis Minerals are sliding almost 3 percent each

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank is gaining more than 1 percent and Westpac is adding almost 1 percent, while National Australia Bank and ANZ Banking are edging up 0.1 percent each. In other news, shares in Bapcor slipping almost 18 percent after the auto parts group downgraded its profit outlook and the disclosure of $12 million pre-tax earnings hit due to "unsatisfactory operational practices" in its trade division.

Shares in Deep Yellow are tumbling almost 17 percent after the immediate exit of the uranium miner's chief executive John Borshoff.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.651 on Monday.