Australian Market Trims Early Losses In Mid-market

(RTTNews) - The Australian market is trimming its early losses in mid-market moves on Thursday, extending the losses in the previous two sessions, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is falling well below the 8,750 level, with weakness in energy stocks and a mixed performance in iron ore miners and technology stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 10.80 points or 0.12 percent to 8,712.10, after hitting a low of 8,656.20 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 14.30 points or 0.16 percent to 8,917.10. Australian stocks ended notably lower on Wednesday.

Among major miners, BHP Group is declining almost 2 percent and Rio Tinto is losing more than 1 percent, while Mineral Resources and Fortescue are edging up 0.1 to 0.3 percent each.

Oil stocks are mostly lower. Beach energy, Santos and Woodside Energy are losing almost 2 percent each, while Origin Energy is declining almost 3 percent.

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block is gaining almost 1 percent, Appen is adding almost 2 percent and Xero is advancing almost 4 percent, while Zip is losing almost 2 percent and WiseTech Global is down almost 1 percent.

Among the big four banks, ANZ Banking and Westpac are gaining almost 1 percent each, while National Australia Bank is advancing almost 3 percent and Commonwealth Bank is edging up 0.2 percent.

Among gold miners, Newmont is gaining more than 2 percent, Northern Star Resources is advancing almost 4 percent and Genesis Minerals is rising more than 3 percent, while Evolution Mining is edging down 0.2 percent. Resolute Mining is flat.

In other news, shares in VHM Ltd are skyrocketing 63 percent after the Junior ASX mining stock struck a long-term supply deal with rare earths miner Iluka Resources.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.689 on Thursday.