Australian Market Maintains Early Losses In Mid-market

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is maintain its early losses in mid-market trading on Tuesday, reversing the slight gains in the previous session, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is falling well below the 8,300 level, with weakness across most sectors led by mining and technology stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 59.70 points or 0.72 percent to 8,248.50, after hitting a low of 8,227.60 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 64.20 points or 0.75 percent to 8,495.90. Australian stocks closed slightly higher on Monday.

Among the major miners, Rio Tinto and BHP Group are losing almost 1 percent each, while Mineral Resources is declining almost 6 percent and Fortescue Metals is down more than 3 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly higher. Origin Energy, Beach energy and Santos are edging up 0.1 to 0.2 percent each, while Woodside Energy is gaining almost 3 percent.

Among tech stocks, Afterpay owner Block is losing almost 4 percent after fourth-quarter revenue fell short of analyst forecasts. Xero is down almost 1 percent, WiseTech Global is declining more than 2 percent and Appen is slipping more than 1 percent, while Zip is jumping almost 15 percent after its cash earnings more than doubled amid transactions growth and lower bad debts.

Gold miners are mostly higher. Resolute Mining is up almost 2 percent, Gold Road Resources is adding more than 1 percent and Evolution Mining is gaining almost 1 percent, while Newmont is losing almost 3 percent and Northern Star resources is edging down 0.1 percent.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank and National Australia Bank are losing almost 2 percent each, while Westpac is edging down 0.4 percent and ANZ Banking is down more than 1 percent.

In other news, shares in Viva Energy are tumbling more than 27 percent, after its half-yearly profit fell 20 percent.

Shares in Domino's Pizza are plunging almost 11 percent after the fast-food retailer swung to a loss on heavy restructuring costs.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.635 on Tuesday.