Australian Market Trims Early Gains In Mid-market

(RTTNews) - The Australian market is trimming its early gains in mid-market moves on Thursday, but extending the gains in the previous three sessions, despite the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is staying above the 8,800 level, with gains in mining stocks tracking higher bullion and iron ore prices. Most other sectors displayed a mixed performance.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 16.40 points or 0.19 percent to 8,837.00, after touching a high of 8,881.00 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 9.10 points or 0.10 percent to 9,160.90. Australian stocks ended slightly higher on Wednesday.

Among major miners, Rio Tinto is gaining 1.5 percent and Fortescue is edging up 0.5 percent, while BHP Group and Mineral Resources are advancing almost 3 percent each.

Oil stocks are mostly lower. Santos is edging down 0.2 percent, Beach energy is declining almost 4 percent and Origin Energy is losing almost 1 percent, while Woodside Energy is edging up 0.4 percent.

In the tech space, WiseTech Global is edging up 0.1 percent and Appen is advancing almost 3 percent. Xero is losing more than 2 percent, while Afterpay owner Block and Zip are declining more than 3 percent each.

Among the big four banks, ANZ Banking is gaining almost 1 percent, while National Australia Bank and Westpac are edging up 0.1 to 0.4 percent each. Commonwealth Bank is losing almost 1 percent.

Among gold miners, Resolute Mining is edging up 0.5 percent, Evolution Mining is gaining almost 1 percent and Northern Star Resources is advancing almost 2 percent, while Genesis Minerals is down almost 1 percent and Newmont is edging down 0.4 percent.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.668 on Thursday.