Australian Market Trims Early Losses In Mid-market

(RTTNews) - The Australian market is trimming early losses in mid-market moves on Thursday, reversing some of the gains in the previous three sessions, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is falling below the 8,750 level, with weakness cross most sectors led by mining and energy stocks. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 18.30 points or 0.21 percent to 8,738.10, after hitting a low of 8,701.30 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 21.40 points or 0.24 percent to 8,994.00. Australian stocks ended notably higher on Wednesday.

Among major miners, BHP Group is losing almost 2 percent, while Rio Tinto and Fortescue are declining more than 2 percent each. Mineral Resources is tumbling more than 8 percent after the tock was downgraded by JPMorgan on valuation concerns.

Oil stocks are mostly lower. Woodside Energy and Origin Energy are edging down 0.2 to 0.5 percent each, while Santos is edging up 0.4 percent. Beach energy is tumbling more than 10 percent after downbeat production update for the June quarter. It will also record a $674 million impairment in its 2025 financial year results, driven by lower commodity prices.

In the tech space, Zip is gaining almost 1 percent and Xero is edging up 0.1 percent, while Afterpay owner Block and WiseTech Global are adding more than 1 percent each. Appen is losing more than 3 percent.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank, National Australia Bank and Westpac are edging up 0.1 to 0.3 percent each, while ANZ Banking is edging down 0.1 percent.

Among gold miners, Northern Star Resources is declining more than 2 percent, Evolution Mining is losing more than 3 percent, Resolute Mining is tumbling more than 5 percent and Newmont is slipping almost 2 percent. Gold Road Resources is edging down 0.2 percent.

In other news, shares in Cettire are plunging more than 20 percent after US President Donald Trump said the US would apply tariffs to low-value imports from all trading partners.

Shares in Flight Centre are tumbling almost 9 percent, after the travel retailer said it would just miss the bottom end of guidance, having already revised that guidance lower in February, blaming growing Middle East tensions, difficult travel conditions in the United States and extra costs in Asia.

In economic news, the total number of building approvals issued in Australia was up a seasonally adjusted 11.9 percent on month in June, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Thursday - standing at 17,076. That blew away expectations for 1.8 percent and was up from the downwardly revised 2.2 percent increase in May (originally 3.2 percent). On a yearly basis, overall approvals spiked 27.4 percent after adding 0.8 percent in the previous month. The value of total building work approved rose 6.2 percent to A$16.65 billion after an 8.4 percent fall in May.

The ABS also said Retail sales in Australia were up a seasonally adjusted 1.2 percent on month in June, coming in at A$37.906 billion. That beat forecasts for an increase of 0.4 percent following the downwardly revised 0.1 percent increase in May (originally 0.2 percent). Sales were up 4.9 percent on year. For the second quarter of 2025, retail sales rose 0.3 percent on quarter and 1.5 percent on year at A$106.038 billion.

Additionally, the ABS said Export prices in Australia were down 4.5 percent on quarter and 3.3 percent on year in the second quarter of 2025. Import prices were down 0.8 percent on quarter and up 1.4 percent on year.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.645 on Thursday.