Australian Market Trims Early Gains In Mid-market

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is trimming its early gains in mid-market trading on Monday, but extending the gains in the previous session, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street on Friday. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index is moving up to near the 8,700.00 level, with gains in energy and financial partially offset by weakness in gold miners and technology stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 8.60 points or 0.10 percent to 8,690.70, after touching a high of 8,735.60 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 10.40 points or 0.12 percent to 8,865.10. Australian stocks closed significantly higher on Friday.

Among the major miners, BHP Group and Rio Tinto are gaining more than 1 percent each, while Mineral Resources is edging down 0.4 percent. Fortescue is flat.

Oil stocks are mostly higher. Woodside Energy and Origin Energy are edging up 0.1 to 0.2 percent each, while Santos is gaining more than 1 percent. Beach energy is edging down 0.4 percent.

Among tech stocks, Afterpay owner Block and Appen are edging up 0.4 percent each, while WiseTech Global is losing more than 2 percent, Xero is down more than 1 percent and Zip is edging down 0.5 percent.

Gold miners are mostly lower. Genesis Minerals and Resolute Mining are losing almost 1 percent each, while Northern Star Resources and Evolution Mining are edging down 0.2 to 0.4 percent each. Newmont is gaining almost 1 percent.

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

In economic news, Australia's Melbourne Institute Monthly Inflation Gauge rose 0.3 percent on month in September 2026, slowing from a 0.5 percent increase in the previous month and marking the softest reading since June. Annual inflation accelerated to 4.0 percent in August from 3.5 percent in July, the highest in three months and still above the Reserve Bank of Australia's 2 to 3 percent target range.

The S&P Global Australia Services PMI Business Activity Index eased to 51.9 in September 2026 from 53.2 in August, but came above the preliminary estimate of 51.4 and marked a fourth straight month of expansion. Composite PMI was revised higher to 51.3 in September 2026 from a preliminary estimate of 50.8, but remained below the final reading of 52.7 in August and still marked the lowest reading since June.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.694 on Monday.