Australian Market Extends Early Gains In Mid-market

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is extending its early gains in mid-market trading on Tuesday, adding to the gains in the previous session, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is moving above the 8,750 level, with gains across all sectors led by mining, energy and technology stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 88.60 points or 1.02 percent to 8,752.30, after touching a high of 8,764.20 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 90.70 points or 1.12 percent to 9,012.70. Australian stocks closed slightly higher on Monday.

Among the major miners, Rio Tinto and BHP Group are gaining almost 1 percent each, while Mineral Resources is advancing almost 5 percent and Fortescue is edging up 0.5 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly higher. Origin Energy is gaining almost 2 percent, Woodside Energy is adding more than 1 percent and Beach energy is advancing almost 3 percent, while Santos is edging down 0.1 percent.

Among tech stocks, Afterpay owner Block is advancing more than 3 percent, Zip is surging more than 6 percent and WiseTech Global is adding almost 2 percent, while Xero is gaining more than 1 percent. Appen is flat.

Gold miners are mostly higher. Gold Road Resources is adding almost 1 percent, Newmont is advancing more than 4 percent, Evolution Mining is up almost 1 percent and Northern Star resources is gaining more than 2 percent, while Resolute Mining is losing more than 2 percent.

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

In other news, shares in Credit Corp are soaring more than 20 percent on upbeat full-year results, driven by a sharp recovery in US debt collections and strong earnings growth in its consumer lending business.

Shares in Austal are jumping almost 6 percent after it finalised its agreement with the federal government to become the country's sovereign defence shipbuilder.

Shares in Reckon are soaring more than 14 percent after the tech firm upbeat half-yearly results, driven by the acquisition of Cashflow Manager. The company also declared a fully franked dividend.

Shares in Electro Optic Systems are skyrocketing more than 33 percent after the defence and space company announced a major A$125 million contract win from a European NATO Member State. It secured its first export order for a drone defence capability based on a new type of high-power laser.

Meanwhile, shares in Telix Pharmaceuticals are plunging more than 12 percent after it flagged higher operating expenses in the first half of the fiscal year.

In economic news, the services sector in Australia continued to expand in July, and at a faster pace, the latest survey from S&P Global revealed on Tuesday with a services PMI score of 54.1. That's up from 53.8 in June and it moves further above the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.646 on Tuesday.