Australian Market Doubles Early Losses In Mid-market

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is doubling its early losses in mid-market moves on Friday, snapping a three-session winning streak, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is falling well below the 9,050 level, with weakness in technology stocks and a mixed performance in most other sectors.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 64.60 points or 0.71 percent to 9,003.80, after hitting a low of 8,993.90 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 73.80 points or 0.79 percent to 9,302.10. Australian stocks closed significantly higher on Thursday.

Among major miners, Mineral Resources is declining almost 2 percent, Rio Tinto is edging down 0.4 percent and BHP Group is losing more than 1 percent, while Fortescue is edging up 0.5 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly lower. Beach energy and Santos are losing more than 1 percent each, while Woodside Energy is down almost 2 percent. Origin Energy is gaining more than 1 percent. Among tech stocks, Afterpay-owner Block and Zip are declining more than 2 percent each, while Appen is slipping almost 1 percent, WiseTech Global are down more than 1 percent and Xero is edging down 0.1 percent.

Among the big four banks, ANZ Banking, National Australia Bank and Westpac are losing almost 1 percent each, while Commonwealth Bank is flat.

Gold miners are mostly higher. Northern Star Resources and Evolution Mining are advancing almost 2 percent each, while Newmont is surging almost 3 percent. Resolute Mining is edging down 0.3 percent and Genesis Minerals is losing almost 3 percent.

In other news, shares in EROAD plummeting almost 37 percent after the New Zealand transport software business flagged an up to NZ$150 million impairment due to challenging conditions in the US market and cutting earnings guidance.

Shares in Vulcan Energy are tumbling almost 8 percent despite striking a partnership deal with JordProxa to provide technology and equipment for its Phase One Lionheart lithium project in Germany.

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