Australian Market Trims Early Gains In Mid-market

(RTTNews) - The Australian market is trimming early gains in mid-market moves on Thursday, but extends the gains in the previous two sessions, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is moving above the 8,550 level, with gains in mining and financial stocks partially offset by weakness in energy and technology stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 14.80 points or 0.17 percent to 8,550.10, after touching a high of 8,575.20 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 15.10 points or 0.17 percent to 8,814.70. Australian stocks ended notably higher on Wednesday.

Among major miners, Mineral Resources is surging almost 7 percent, Fortescue Metals is adding almost 2 percent, BHP Group is gaining more than 2 percent and Rio Tinto is up more than 1 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly lower. Woodside Energy is losing almost 1 percent, while Origin Energy and Santos are edging down 0.2 to 0.5 percent each. Beach energy is edging up 0.4 percent.

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block is losing almost 1 percent. Appen and WiseTech Global are gaining more than 1 percent each, while Zip is edging up 0.4 percent. Xero is flat.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank and National Australia Bank are edging down 0.3 percent each, while Westpac are adding more than 1 percent and ANZ Banking is advancing almost 1 percent. Among gold miners, Resolute Mining and Newmont are advancing almost 3 percent each, while Gold Road Resources is edging up 0.2 percent. Evolution Mining is edging down 0.3 percent. Northern Star Resources is flat.

In other news, shares in Temple & Webster are jumping almost 14 percent after the online furniture retailer reported sales jumped nearly 24 percent and topped market expectations.

Shares in IAG are tumbling more than 11 percent even after the insurer reported a 91.2 percent leap in profit for the half-year to December and a 20 percent higher interim dividend.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.628 on Thursday.