Australian Market Trims Early Strong Gains In Mid-market

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is trimming its early strong gains in mid-market moves on Friday, adding to the gains in the previous seven sessions, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is moving well above the 8,300 level, with gains across most sectors led by mining, financial and technology stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 47.70 points or 0.58 percent to 8,345.20, after touching a high of 8,398.20 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 49.50 points or 0.58 percent to 8,579.30. Australian stocks closed modestly higher on Thursday.

Among major miners, BHP Group is adding almost 2 percent, Fortescue Metals is up almost 1 percent, Rio Tinto is gaining more than 1 percent and Mineral Resources is edging up 0.3 percent. Oil stocks are mostly higher. Origin Energy, Woodside Energy and Santos are edging down 0.2 to 0.5 percent each, while Beach energy is gaining almost 1 percent.

Among tech stocks, Afterpay-owner Block is losing more than 1 percent, Xero is edging down 0.3 percent and WiseTech Global is declining almost 2 percent, while Zip is edging up 0.2 percent and Appen is skyrocketing more than 24 percent after it provided upbeat full-year revenue guidance and a target for "positive" underlying earnings.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank and Westpac are edging up 0.1 to 0.3 percent each, while National Australia Bank is gaining almost 1 percent. ANZ Banking is edging down 0.4 percent.

Gold miners are mostly higher. Evolution Mining is advancing more than 4 percent, Resolute Mining is surging almost 5 percent and Gold Road Resources is gaining almost 2 percent, while Northern Star Resources and Newmont are adding more than 3 percent each.

In other news, shares in Catalyst Metals are surging more than 4 percent after the gold miner said it received the final environmental approval from the DEMIRS to develop its Trident gold project located in Western Australia.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.642 on Friday.