Australian Market Extends Gains In Mid-market

(RTTNews) - The Australian market in extending its early gains in mid-market moves on Thursday, adding to the gains in the previous session, despite the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is above the 8,500 level, with gains across most sectors led by mining, energy and financial stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 64.00 points or 0.76 percent to 8,511.00, after touching a high of 8,511.10 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 63.80 points or 0.73 percent to 8,764.50. Australian stocks ended notably higher on Wednesday.

Among major miners, Fortescue Metals is gaining almost 1 percent, while BHP Group and Rio Tinto are adding more than 1 percent each. Mineral Resources is slipping 2.5 percent.

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

In the tech space, WiseTech Global is gaining almost 1 percent and Xero is edging up 0.3 percent, while Appen is sliding more than 9 percent and Zip is tumbling almost 23 percent, despite reporting upbeat results. Afterpay owner Block is in a trading halt.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank is adding almost 1 percent and National Australia Bank is gaining more than 1 percent, while ANZ Banking and Westpac are edging up 0.4 to 0.5 percent each. Among gold miners, Gold Road Resources is gaining more than 1 percent and Evolution Mining is adding almost 1 percent, while Northern Star Resources and Newmont are edging up 0.2 to 0.5 percent each. Resolute Mining is losing more than 3 percent.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.623 on Thursday.