Australian Market Swings To Modest Gains In Mid-market

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is swinging to modest gains in mid-market moves on Wednesday after opening in the red, recouping some of the losses in the previous two sessions, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 moving above the 8,900 level, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight, with strong gains in financial stocks partially offset by weakness in mining, energy and technology stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 36.30 points or 0.41 percent to 8,932.50, after hitting a low of 8,857.80 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 22.40 points or 0.24 percent to 9,196.20. Australian stocks ended notably lower on Tuesday.

Among major miners, BHP Group is losing almost 1 percent and Mineral Resources is declining more than 3 percent, while Fortescue is edging up 0.1 percent and Rio Tinto is gaining almost 1 percent.

Heavyweight miners came under pressure after a court blocked a key land transfer for Rio Tinto and BHP's Resolution Copper project in Arizona.

Oil stocks are mostly lower. Woodside Energy is edging down 0.4 percent, Beach energy is losing more than 1 percent and Santos is declining more than 2 percent, while Origin Energy is edging up 0.5 percent.

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block and Appen are declining more than 2 percent each, while Zip is slipping more than 3 percent, Xero is edging down 0.2 percent and WiseTech Global is losing more than 1 percent.

Among the big four banks, Westpac is advancing more than 2 percent, National Australia bank is rising more than 3 percent, ANZ Banking is gaining almost 3 percent and Commonwealth Bank is adding more than 1 percent.

Among gold miners, Evolution Mining and Gold Road Resources are edging down 0.2 percent each, while Northern Star Resources and Newmont are slipping more than 1 percent each. Resolute Mining is sliding almost 4 percent. In other news, shares in James Hardie are plummeting almost 27 percent after reporting down beat quarterly results and disappointing earnings guidance.

Shares in Lynch Group are skyrocketing more than 24 percent after TPG Capital's Hasfarm Holdings floated a $270 million takeover bid for the Australian flower company at $2.245 per share.

Shares in Magellan Financial are jumping more than 6 percent after it lifted annual dividend 12 percent, despite down beat results.

Shares in Lottery Corp. are surging almost 8 percent after the lottery and gaming operator reported upbeat full-year results and lifted dividend.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.644 on Wednesday.