Australian Market Extends Early Losses In Mid-market

(RTTNews) - The Australian market is extending early losses in mid-market moves on Thursday, reversing some of the gains in the previous two sessions, despite the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is staying just above the 8,700 level, with weakness in mining stocks and a mixed performance in most other sectors. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 17.90 points or 0.21 percent to 8,719.30, after touching a high of 8,759.90 and a low of 8,718.10 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 13.90 points or 0.15 percent to 8,987.50. Australian stocks ended significantly higher on Wednesday.

Among major miners, BHP Group is edging down 0.2 percent and Fortescue is adding more than 3 percent after announcing it shipped a record volume of iron ore in the year to June and is forecasting stronger growth in the next 12 months. Rio Tinto and Mineral Resources are flat.

Oil stocks are mostly lower. Beach energy is losing almost 1 percent, while Origin Energy and Santos are edging down 0.1 to 0.3 percent each. Woodside Energy is gaining almost 1 percent.

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

Among the big four banks, National Australia Bank is gaining almost 1 percent, while Commonwealth Bank, Westpac and ANZ Banking are edging up 0.1 to 0.5 percent each.

Among gold miners, Evolution Mining is declining more than 3 percent, Newmont is down more than 1 percent and Gold Road Resources is edging down 0.5 percent, while Resolute Mining and Northern Star Resources are losing almost 3 percent each.

In other news, shares in Bapcor, which owns the Autobarn, Autopro and Burson brands, are tumbling almost 29 percent after the automotive parts group released an underwhelming trading updated, with sales weaker than expected in May and June. It also announced $50 million in post-tax writedowns and the exit of three directors.

In economic news, the manufacturing sector in Australia continued to expand in July, a preliminary survey from S&P Global revealed on Thursday with a manufacturing PMI score of 51.6. That's up from 50.6 in June and it moves further above the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction. The survey also showed that the services PMI improved to 53.8 in July from 51.8 in June, and the composite PMI moved to 53.6 from 51,6 a month earlier.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.661 on Thursday.