Australian Market Swings To Slight Gains In Mid-market

(RTTNews) - The Australian market is turning its early losses to slight gains in mid-market moves on Thursday after opening in the red, extending the slight gains in the previous session, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is staying just below the 8,200 level, with gains in gold miners and technology stocks partially offset by weakness in financial stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 12.20 points or 0.15 percent to 8,190.50, after hitting a low of 8,154.80 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 20.80 points or 0.25 percent to 8,420.60. Australian stocks ended modestly higher on Wednesday.

Among major miners, Rio Tinto is gaining almost 1 percent, while BHP Group is edging down 0.1 percent and Fortescue Metals is losing almost 1 percent. Mineral Resources is flat.

Oil stocks are mixed. Santos is edging down 0.3 percent and Woodside Energy is losing almost 1 percent, while Origin Energy is gaining more than 1 percent and Beach energy is edging up 0.4 percent.

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block and WiseTech Global are gaining almost 3 percent each, while Appen and Zip are adding almost 2 percent each. Xero is up almost 1 percent.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank is down almost 1 percent, Westpac is declining 4.5 percent and ANZ Banking is losing more than 3 percent, while National Australia Bank is gaining more than 1 percent.

Among gold miners, Northern Star Resources is adding almost 3 percent, Gold Road Resources is edging up 0.5 percent, Newmont is up almost 2 percent, Evolution Mining is gaining more than 3 percent and Resolute Mining is surging more than 4 percent.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.646 on Thursday.