Australian Market Extends Early Gains In Mid-market

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is extending its early gains in mid-market moves on Friday, snapping a four-session losing streak, despite the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is moving up to stay just below the 7,800 level, with gains in iron ore miners and gold miners amid spiking metal prices.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 34.60 points or 0.45 percent to 7,783.70, after touching a high of 7,792.70 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 38.40 points or 0.48 percent to 8,005.00. Australian stocks closed notably lower on Thursday.

Among major miners, BHP Group is gaining almost 2 percent, Rio Tinto is adding more than 1 percent, Fortescue Metals is advancing more than 3 percent and Mineral Resources is up almost 3 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly lower. Woodside Energy is losing almost 2 percent and Beach energy is declining almost 1 percent, while Origin Energy is up almost 1 percent. Santos is flat.

Among tech stocks, Afterpay-owner Block and Xero are edging down 0.2 to 0.5 percent each, while WiseTech Global is losing more than 1 percent. Zip is edging up 0.2 percent and Appen is gaining almost 2 percent.

Among the big four banks, Westpac and ANZ Banking are edging down 0.3 to 0.5 percent each, while Commonwealth Bank is losing more than 1 percent. National Australia Bank is gaining almost 1 percent. Gold miners are mostly higher. Evolution Mining is gaining almost 4 percent, Resolute Mining is surging more than 7 percent, Northern Star Resources is adding more than 3 percent, Newmont is advancing almost 5 percent and Gold Road Resources is up almost 2 percent.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.628 on Friday.