Australian Market Extends Early Gains In Mid-market

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is extending its early gains in mid-market moves on Wednesday, reversing the losses in the previous session, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 staying well above the 8,800 level, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight, with gains in mining and energy stocks partially offset by weakness in technology stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 19.30 points or 0.22 percent to 8,838.10, after touching a high of 8,842.70 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 19.80 points or 0.22 percent to 9,118.20. Australian stocks ended modestly lower on Tuesday.

Among major miners, BHP Group and Fortescue are gaining more than 1 percent each, while Rio Tinto is advancing more than 2 percent and Mineral Resources is soaring more than 9 percent after agreeing to sell a 30 percent stake in its lithium operations to South Korea's POSCO Holdings.

Oil stocks are mostly higher. Santos is adding almost 2 percent, while Woodside Energy and Beach energy are gaining almost 1 percent each. Origin Energy is flat.

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block and Appen are losing more than 1 percent each, while Xero and Zip are declining almost 2 perrcent each. WiseTech Global is down almost 1 perrcent.

Among the big four banks, Westpac and ANZ Banking are gaining almost 1 percent each, while National Australia bank is losing almost 2 percent and Commonwealth Bank is down more than 1 percent. Among gold miners, Evolution Mining is advancing almost 2 percent. Newmont and Resolute Mining are up more than 1 percent each, while Northern Star Resources and Genesis Minerals are gaining almost 1 percent each.

In other news, shares in ARN Media are tumbling more than 11 percent after it said full-year EBITDA was expected to be 25 to 27 per cent below last year amid the sharp weakness in the Australian advertising market in the second half of FY25 amid economic uncertainty.

In economic news, the total number of new home loans issued in Australia was up a seasonally adjusted 6.4 percent on quarter in the third quarter of 2025, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said on Wednesday - coming in at 141,470. That's up from 2.4 percent in the previous three months. On a yearly basis, loans were up 5.8 percent.

Investor home loans jumped 13.6 percent on quarter and 12.3 percent on year at 57,624. The value of new home loans climbed 9.6 percent on quarter and 13.2 percent on year to A$98.0 billion

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.652 on Wednesday.