Australian Market Trims Early Losses In Mid-market

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is trimming its early losses in mid-market moves on Friday, extending the slight losses in the previous session, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is staying below the 8,850 level, with weakness in financial and technology stocks partially offset by gains in mining stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 6.50 points or 0.07 percent to 8,824.90, after hitting a low of 8,790.30 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 11.60 points or 0.13 percent to 9,090.40. Australian stocks closed slightly lower on Thursday.

Among major miners, BHP Group, Fortescue and Mineral Resources are gaining almost 1 percent each, while Rio Tinto is edging up 0.2 percent.

Oil stocks are mixed. Santos and Woodside Energy are edging down 0.1 to 0.3 percent each, while Beach energy is gaining almost 1 percent and Origin Energy is edging up 0.3 percent

Among tech stocks, Zip is declining almost 3 percent, WiseTech Global is losing almost 2 percent and Xero is down almost 1 percent. Afterpay-owner Block is surging 7.5 percent on upbeat second-quarter results. Appen is flat.

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

Gold miners are mostly higher. Evolution Mining and Resolute Mining are gaining 1.5 percent each, while Northern Star Resources is advancing almost 4 percent, Gold Road Resources is edging up 0.2 percent and Newmont is adding more than 2 percent.

In other news, shares in Nick Scali are surging almost 9 percent after the furniture retailer's Australia and New Zealand business saw second-half sales orders rise with a 65 percent gross margin.

Shares in Iress are soaring almost 12 percent after its board confirmed the company considered a takeover approach from New York-based private equity giant Blackstone.

Meanwhile, shares in GQG Partners are tumbling more than 14 percent after US$1.4 billion exited its funds in July, with US$1 billion of that tied to a single institutional client.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.652 on Friday.