Australian Market Extends Early Losses In Mid-market

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is extending its early losses in mid-market trading on Monday, snapping a seven-session winning streak, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street on Friday. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index is falling below the 8,200.00 level, with weakness in energy and financial stocks partially offset by gains in iron ore miners and technology stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 59.90 points or 0.73 percent to 8,178.10, after hitting a low of 8,173.60 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 58.30 points or 0.69 percent to 8,397.90. Australian stocks closed significantly higher on Friday.

Among the major miners, BHP Group and Rio Tinto are losing almost 1 percent each, while Fortescue Metals is declining almost 2 percent. Mineral Resources is gaining almost 1 percent. Oil stocks are mostly lower. Woodside Energy, Beach energy and Santos are declining more than 3 percent each, while Origin Energy is losing more than 1 percent.

Among tech stocks, Afterpay owner Block is surging more than 5 percent, Appen is soaring almost 14 percent and Zip is gaining more than 1 percent, while Xero is edging down 0.5 percent. WiseTech Global is flat.

Gold miners are mixed. Evolution Mining is adding more than 2 percent, Northern Star Resources is edging up 0.2 percent and Gold Road Resources is soaring more than 10 percent after it agreed to sweetened $3.7 billion takeover offer from South African gold mining giant Gold Fields Ltd., while Resolute Mining is losing almost 1 percent. Newmont is flat.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank is losing more than 2 percent, Westpac is declining more than 3 percent, National Australia Bank is sliding almost 2 percent and ANZ Banking is down almost 1 percent.

In other news, shares in Smartpay soaring more than 24 percent after it entered exclusive talks with an unnamed suitor proposing to acquire it for NZ$1.20 per share or A$1.12 per share.

In economic news, the services sector in Australia continued to expand in April, albeit at a slower pace, the latest survey from S&P Global revealed on Monday with a services PMI score of 51.0. That's down from 51.6 in March, although it remains above the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.647 on Monday.