Australian Market Extends Early Losses In Mid-market

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is extending its early losses in mid-market trading on Tuesday, giving up the slight 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 8,950 level, with weakness in iron ore miners and a mixed performance across most other sectors.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 47.30 points or 0.53 percent to 8,925.10, after touching a high of 8,984.90 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 53.70 points or 0.58 percent to 9,191.30. Australian stocks closed slightly higher on Monday.

Among the major miners, BHP Group and Rio Tinto are edging down 0.2 to 0.5 percent each, while Mineral Resources is slipping more than 3 percent and Fortescue is declining almost 2 percent on downbeat results.

Oil stocks are mostly higher. Santos is gaining almost 1 percent and Beach energy is edging up 0.2 percent, while Woodside Energy is edging down 0.3 percent. Origin Energy is flat.

Among tech stocks, Afterpay owner Block, Zip, Xero and WiseTech Global are edging down 0.3 to 0.5 percent each, while Appen is gaining almost 1 percent.

Gold miners are mostly lower. Evolution Mining is losing more than 1 percent, Northern Star resources is edging down 0.1 percent and Resolute Mining is declining more than 5 percent, while Gold Road Resources is edging up 0.3 percent and Newmont is gaining almost 1 percent.

Among the big four banks, ANZ Banking and Westpac are edging down 0.2 to 0.5 percent each, while National Australia Bank and Commonwealth Bank edging up 0.1 to 0.5 percent each.

In economic news, the Reserve Bank of Australia will on Tuesday release the minutes from its August 12 monetary policy meeting. At the meeting, the RBA reduced its benchmark interest rate by a quarter-point to 3.60 percent as underlying inflation continued to soften and labor conditions eased slightly. The third cut this year took the rate to the lowest since March 2023. Previously, the bank had reduced the rate by 25 basis points each in May and February.

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