Australian Market Trims Early Gains In Mid-market

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is trimming its early gains in mid-market trading on Tuesday, reversing some of the losses in the previous two sessions, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is moving up to a tad below the 8,500 level, with gains in gold miners and energy stocks partially offset by weakness in iron ore miners and technology stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 8.50 points or 0.10 percent to 8,491.30, after touching a high of 8,515.30 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 11.60 points or 0.13 percent to 8,759.20. Australian stocks closed modestly lower on Monday.

Among the major miners, BHP Group is edging down 0.4 percent and Mineral Resources is declining almost 4 percent, while Rio Tinto and Fortescue Metals are losing almost 1 percent each.

Oil stocks are higher. Origin Energy is gaining 1.5 percent and Woodside Energy is adding almost 1 percent, while Santos and Beach energy are edging up 0.1 to 0.5 percent each.

Among tech stocks, Afterpay owner Block, Appen and WiseTech Global are losing more than 1 percent each, while Xero is up more than 1 percent and Zip is advancing almost 3 percent.

Gold miners are mostly higher. Northern Star resources is surging almost 5 percent, Newmont is gaining almost 4 percent, Gold Road Resources is adding more than 1 percent, Resolute Mining is edging up 0.5 percent and Evolution Mining is advancing more than 6 percent.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank and National Australia Bank are edging down 0.1 to 0.3 percent each, while Westpac and ANZ Banking are edging up 0.2 to 0.5 percent each.

In other news, shares in Seven West Media Ltd., SGH Ltd. and Nine Entertainment Co Holdings Ltd. are gaining 6.1, 5.2 and 10.9 percent, respectively, after the media companies reported their half-yearly results.

Shares in Charter Hall Social Infrastructure are surging 7.8 percent after reporting its half-yearly results.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.627 on Tuesday.