Australian Market Trims Early Losses In Mid-market

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is trimming its early losses in mid-market trading on Tuesday, reversing the gains in the previous session, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is falling well below the 8,200 level, with weakness across most sectors led by mining and technology stocks, after US President Donald Trump confirmed he will move forward with higher tariffs on major trading partners.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 72.70 points or 0.88 percent to 8,173.00, after hitting a low of 8,150.20 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 82.80 points or 0.98 percent to 8,396.00. Australian stocks closed significantly higher on Monday.

Among the major miners, BHP Group is losing more than 1 percent, Mineral Resources is sliding more than 10 percent, Rio Tinto is down 1.5 percent and Fortescue Metals is declining more than 4 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly lower. Origin Energy is losing more than 5 percent and Beach energy is declining almost 4 percent, while Woodside Energy and Santos are down more than 3 percent each.

Among tech stocks, Afterpay owner Block is losing almost 6 percent, Appen is sliding more than 4 percent and Zip is plunging almost 10 percent, while Xero and WiseTech Global are slipping almost 1 percent each.

Gold miners are mixed. Evolution Mining is edging up 0.2 percent and Northern Star resources is up more than 1 percent, while Resolute Mining is declining almost 1 percent, Newmont is losing more than 1 percent and Gold Road Resources is edging down 0.2 percent.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank is edging down 0.4 percent each, while ANZ Banking and National Australia Bank are losing almost 1 percent each. Westpac is flat.

In economic news, retail sales in Australia increased by 0.3 percent month-on-month in January 2025, after a 0.1 percent decline in the previous month and matching market expectations.

Meanwhile, Australia's current account deficit declined to A$12.5 billion in the fourth quarter of 2024 from a downwardly revised A$19.9 billion shortfall in the third quarter, indicating the seventh consecutive quarter of deficit despite missing market expectations of an A$11.9 billion gap.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.622 on Tuesday.