Australian Market Trims Early Gains In Mid-market

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

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 36.70 points or 0.45 percent to 8,257.60, after touching a high of 8,281.40 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 43.10 points or 0.51 percent to 8,514.60. Australian stocks closed modestly higher on Tuesday prior to the holiday on Wednesday and Thursday.

Among major miners, BHP Group is edging up 0.3 percent and Mineral Resources is advancing almost 2 percent, while Rio Tinto and Fortescue Metals are gaining almost 1 percent each.

Oil stocks are mostly higher. Woodside Energy is gaining almost 1 percent, while Beach energy and Santos are edging up 0.5 percent each. Origin Energy is edging down 0.4 percent.

Among tech stocks, Zip is gaining almost 4 percent, Afterpay-owner Block is adding 1.5 percent, Xero is edging up 0.1 percent and Appen is soaring almost 14 percent, while WiseTech Global is losing almost 1 percent.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank and ANZ Banking are edging up 0.3 to 0.4 percent each, while Westpac and National Australia Bank are gaining almost 1 percent each. Gold miners are mostly higher. Evolution Mining and Northern Star Resources are edging up 0.5 percent each, while Resolute Mining is advancing almost 2 percent and Gold Road Resources is adding more than 1 percent. Newmont is losing almost 1 percent.

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