Australian Market Trims Early Gains In Mid-market

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is trimming its early gains in mid-market trading on Monday, reversing some of the losses in the previous two sessions, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street on Friday. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index is staying above the 8,650.00 level, with gains in gold miners and financial stocks partially offset by weakness in iron ore miners and energy stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 13.10 points or 0.15 percent to 8,680.00, after touching a high of 8,704.90 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 11.70 points or 0.13 percent to 8,946.00. Australian stocks closed notably lower on Friday.

Among the major miners, Rio Tinto, Fortescue and BHP Group are losing more than 1 percent each, while Mineral Resources is declining more than 5 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly lower. Origin Energy is losing almost 2 percent, while Santos is edging down 0.3 percent and Beach energy is declining more than 1 percent, while Woodside Energy is edging up 0.5 percent.

Among tech stocks, Afterpay owner Block is gaining almost 3 percent and Xero is edging up 0.1 percent. WiseTech Global and Zip are edging down 0.1 to 0.3 percent each, while Appen is losing almost 3 percent.

Gold miners are mostly higher. Northern Star Resources is adding more than 1 percent and Newmont is advancing more than 4 percent, while Evolution Mining and Gold Road Resources are gaining almost 1 percent each. Resolute Mining is losing more than 1 percent.

Among the big four banks, National Australia Bank, Commonwealth Bank and ANZ Banking are edging up 0.1 to 0.4 percent each. Westpac is flat.

In other news, shares in Boss Energy are crashing 43 percent after the uranium miner flagged potential challenges at its Honeymoon project.

Shares in Helloworld Travel are jumping more than 13 percent after upgrading its full-year earnings guidance, despite softer booking volumes. In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.657 on Monday.