Australian Market Trims Early Losses In Mid-market

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is trimming its early losses in mid-market moves on Friday, reversing the gains in the previous session, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is well below the 9,000 mark, with weakness in mining and energy stocks partially offset by gains in financial and technology stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 11.10 points or 0.12 percent to 8,958.70, after hitting a low of 8,938.20 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 12.60 points or 0.14 percent to 9,264.00. Australian stocks closed modestly higher on Thursday.

Among major miners, BHP Group and Rio Tinto are declining more than 1 percent each, while Fortescue is losing more than 1 percent. Mineral Resources is gaining almost 4 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly lower. Origin Energy and Santos are edging down 0.4 to 0.5 percent each, while Woodside Energy is losing more than 1 percent and Beach energy is declining almost 2 percent. Among tech stocks, Afterpay-owner Block and Xero are edging up 0.2 to 0.4 percent each, while Zip is advancing almost 2 percent and Appen is gaining almost 1 percent. WiseTech Global is edging down 0.5 percent.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank is gaining almost 1 percent, while National Australia Bank, Westpac and ANZ Banking are edging up 0.4 to 0.5 percent each.

Gold miners are mostly lower. Northern Star Resources, Evolution Mining and Newmont are losing more than 2 percent each, while Resolute Mining is tumbling almost 4 percent and Genesis Minerals is declining more than 3 percent.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.656 on Friday.