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 four sessions, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is moving well above the 9,250 level to fresh all-time highs, 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 41.20 points or 0.45 percent to 9,269.00, after touching an all-time high of 9,296.70 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 46.10 points or 0.49 percent to 9,451.50. Australian stocks ended significantly higher on Wednesday.

Among major miners, BHP Group and Fortescue are gaining more than 1 percent each, while Mineral Resources is advancing more than 2 percent and Rio Tinto is adding almost 1 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly lower. Woodside Energy and Santos are losing more than 1 percent each, while Beach energy is tumbling more than 5 percent and Origin Energy is down almost 1 percent.

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block is losing almost 3 percent, WiseTech Global is declining more than 3 percent, Xero is down almost 1 percent and Appen is slipping almost 2 percent. Zip is flat.

Among the big four banks, ANZ Banking, Commonwealth Bank, Westpac and National Australia Bank are gaining almost 1 percent each.

Among gold miners, Genesis Minerals is surging more than 7 percent and Evolution Mining is jumping more than 6 percent, while Northern Star Resources, Resolute Mining and Newmont are advancing more than 5 percent each.

In economic news, Australia posted a merchandise trade surplus of A$1.929 billion in June, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Thursday. That exceeded expectations for a deficit of A$1.060 billion following the downwardly revised A$2.367 billion shortfall in May (originally -A$3.018 billion).

Exports rose 9.6 percent on month to A$4.196 billion, after sinking a downwardly revised 7.6 percent in the previous month (originally -6.9 percent). Imports fell 0.2 percent to -A$100 million after losing a downwardly revised 0.9 percent a month earlier (originally 1.1 percent).

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.706 on Thursday.