Australian Market Trims Early Slight Gains In Mid-market

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is trimming its early slight gains in mid-market moves in choppy trading on Wednesday, reversing some of the sharp losses in the previous session, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 staying well above the 8,450 level, despite the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight, with gains in gold miner stocks partially offset by weakness in financial stocks. Most other sectors are performing mixed.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 2.90 points or 0.03 percent to 8,472.00, after touching a high of 8,487.50 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 7.70 points or 0.09 percent to 8,746.00. Australian stocks ended sharply lower on Tuesday.

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

Oil stocks are mostly higher. Santos is edging up 0.4 percent, Woodside Energy is gaining more than 1 percent and Beach energy is adding almost 1 percent, while Origin Energy is losing almost 1 percent.

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block is declining almost 2 percent and Zip is losing more than 1 perrcent, while WiseTech Global is gaining almost 1 percent and Xero is adding more than 1 perrcent. Appen is flat.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank is declining almost 2 percent and ANZ Banking is down more than 1 percent, while Westpac and National Australia bank are losing almost 1 percent each.

Among gold miners, Evolution Mining, Resolute Mining and Genesis Minerals are advancing almost 4 percent each, while Newmont is gaining almost 2 percent and Northern Star Resources is adding more than 4 percent.

In other news, shares in DroneShield are tumbling almost 16 percent as US chief executive Matt McCrann resigned, effective immediately, after serving in the position since 2022. Shares in Webjet are soaring almost 16 percent after Helloworld lobbed a 90 cent a share bid after quietly amassing a sizable stake in the online travel agency over the past half year. Shares in Nufarm are surging more than 9 percent as group executive portfolio solutions Rico Christensen was announced as Greg Hunt's replacement as chief executive from January 1 after the agriculture supplies business reported financial results for the full year.

In economic news, the wage price index in Australia was up a seasonally adjusted 0.8 percent on quarter in the third quarter of 2025, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Wednesday - in line with expectations and unchanged from the previous quarter. On a yearly basis, the index climbed 3.4 percent - again unchanged and matching forecasts.

Private sector wages were up 0.7 percent on quarter and 3.2 percent on year, while public sector wages rose 0.9 percent on quarter and 3.8 percent on year.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.650 on Wednesday.