Australian Market Trims Early Gains In Mid-market

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is trimming its early gains in mid-market trading on Tuesday, but extending the gains in the previous session, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is moving above the 8,550 level, with gains across most sectors led by gold miners and technology stocks. Iron ore miners were the only weak spot.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 11.90 points or 0.14 percent to 8,554.20, after touching a high of 8,576.00 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 9.80 points or 0.11 percent to 8,782.80. Australian stocks closed modestly higher on Monday.

Among the major miners, BHP Group and Fortescue Metals are edging down 0.1 to 0.2 percent each, while Rio Tinto is losing more than 1 percent and Mineral Resources is declining more than 3 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly higher. Origin Energy is gaining more than 1 percent, while Woodside Energy and Santos are edging up 0.1 to 0.4 percent each. Beach energy is losing almost 1 percent.

Among tech stocks, Afterpay owner Block is gaining almost 1 percent, Zip is advancing almost 3 percent, Appen is surging almost 4 percent and Xero is rising more than 2 percent, while WiseTech Global is losing more than 1 percent.

Gold miners are mostly higher. Northern Star resources and Gold Road Resources are edging up 0.3 percent each, while Resolute Mining is surging more than 5 percent and Newmont is advancing 1.5 percent. Evolution Mining is edging down 0.5 percent.

Among the big four banks, ANZ Banking is gaining more than 2 percent, National Australia Bank is gaining almost 1 percent and Westpac is edging up 0.5 percent, while Commonwealth Bank is losing almost 1 percent.

In other news, shares in Orthocell Ltd. are jumping more than 6 percent after the regenerative medicine company reported record revenue of $2.73 million for the fourth quarter, driven by strong demand for Remplir in Australia.

Shares in Insignia Financial are also jumping more than 6 percent after CC Capital said it continues to "actively work towards making a binding bid for the company" and would finalise financing and investment committee approvals in the next two weeks.

In economic news, the manufacturing sector in Australia continued to expand in June, albeit at a slower pace, the latest survey from S&P Global showed on Tuesday with a manufacturing PMI score of 50.6. That's down from 51.0, 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 $0.656 on Tuesday.