Australian Market Extends Early Gains In Mid-market

(RTTNews) - The Australian market is extending early gains in mid-market moves on Thursday, reversing some of the losses in the previous session, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is moving above the 8,600 level, with gains in financial stocks and a mixed performance in all other sectors. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 63.80 points or 0.75 percent to 8,625.60, after touching a high of 8,629.20 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 60.30 points or 0.68 percent to 8,876.70. Australian stocks ended significantly lower on Wednesday.

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

Oil stocks are mostly lower. Santos is edging up 0.1 percent, Beach energy is gaining almost 1 percent and Origin Energy is adding 1.5 percent, while Woodside Energy is edging down 0.2 percent

In the tech space, Zip is edging down 0.5 percent, WiseTech Global is down almost 1 percent and Appen is losing more than 3 percent, while Afterpay owner Block is surging more than 5 percent and Xero is advancing almost 2 percent.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank, ANZ Banking and Westpac are gaining more than 1 percent each, while National Australia Bank is edging up 0.5 percent.

Among gold miners, Northern Star Resources is edging up 0.2 percent, Gold Road Resources is adding almost 1 percent and Newmont is advancing almost 2 percent, while Evolution Mining is edging down 0.3 percent and Resolute Mining is losing more than 1 percent.

In economic news, the jobless rate in Australia came in at a seasonally adjusted 4.3 percent in June, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Thursday. That was above expectations for 4.1 percent, which would have been unchanged.

The Australian economy added 2,000 jobs last month, well shy of forecasts for a gain of 21,000 following the loss of 2,500 jobs in May. The participation rate was 67.1 percent, topping forecasts for 67.0 percent, which would have been unchanged.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.648 on Thursday.