Australian Market Swings To Modest Gains In Mid-market

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is swinging to modest gains in mid-market moves on Friday after opening in the red, extending the gains in the previous two sessions, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is staying below the 9,000 mark, with gains in energy and technology stocks partially offset by weakness in mining and financial stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 9.90 points or 0.11 percent to 8,989.90, after hitting a low of 8,948.00 and a high of 8,988.40 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 17.50 points or 0.19 percent to 9,258.60. Australian stocks closed modestly higher on Thursday.

Among major miners, BHP Group is edging down 0.2 percent and Mineral Resources is losing almost 2 percent, while Rio Tinto and Fortescue are flat.

Oil stocks are mostly higher. Beach energy is gaining more than 1 percent and Woodside Energy is edging up 0.1 percent, while Santos is edging down 0.5 percent. Origin Energy is flat.

Among tech stocks, Afterpay-owner Block and Xero is adding almost 1 percent each, while Zip is advancing more than 4 percent, Appen is up almost 3 percent and WiseTech Global is gaining almost 2 percent.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank and National Australia Bank are losing almost 1 percent each, while and Westpac is down more than 1 percent. ANZ Banking is edging up 0.5 percent.

Gold miners are mixed. Evolution Mining and Newmont are gaining almost 1 percent each, while Northern Star Resources is edging down 0.2 percent and Resolute Mining is losing more than 1 percent. Gold Road Resources is flat.

In other news, shares in Nextdc Ltd. are surging almost 16 percent after the data centre operator reported upbeat full-year results.

Shares in Harvey Norman are soaring more than 10 percent after reporting upbeat results, well above market expectations.

Shares in Austal are jumping more than 14 percent after it delivered a sharp turnaround in the 12 months to June 30, with net profit after tax jumping five-fold on stronger shipbuilding performance and a record order pipeline.

Shares in Boss Energy are jumping almost 9 percent after reporting its first full-year production results from the Honeymoon and Alta Mesa uranium operations, generating $17.4 million in positive operating cashflow for the 2024-25 financial year.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.654 on Friday.