Australian Market Trims Early Losses In Mid-market

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is trimming its early losses in mid-market trading on Monday, extending the slight losses in the previous session, following the mixed cues from Wall Street on Friday. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index is falling well below the 8,950.00 level, with weakness in gold miners, financial and technology stocks partially offset by gains in energy stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 48.70 points or 0.54 percent to 8,911.90, after hitting a low of 8,889.60 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 56.70 points or 0.62 percent to 9,099.10. Australian stocks closed slightly lower on Friday.

Among the major miners, Rio Tinto and BHP Group are edging up 0.1 to 0.4 percent each, while Fortescue is gaining almost 1 percent. Mineral Resources is losing almost 1 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly higher. Beach energy is gaining almost 4 percent, Woodside Energy is adding more than 3 percent and Santos is advancing more than 2 percent, while Origin Energy is losing almost 1 percent.

Among tech stocks, Afterpay owner Block is declining almost 3 percent, WiseTech Global is losing more than 2 percent, Appen is slipping almost 4 percent, Zip is tumbling almost 6 percent and Xero is down almost 2 percent.

Gold miners are lower. Northern Star Resources and Evolution Mining are losing almost 4 percent each, while Resolute Mining is slipping more than 4 percent, Newmont is down more than 1 percent and Genesis Minerals is declining almost 3 percent.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank is edging down 0.3 percent and National Australia Bank is losing more than 1 percent, while ANZ Banking and Westpac are down almost 1 percent each. In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.703 on Monday.