Australian Market Trims Losses In Mid-market

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is trimming its losses in mid-market trading on Tuesday, but adding to the losses in the previous session, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is falling below the 8,200 level, with weakness in mining, financial and technology stocks partially offset by gains in energy stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 53.70 points or 0.65 percent to 8,181.30, after hitting a low of 8,168.70 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 51.20 points or 0.60 percent to 8,444.80. Australian stocks closed modestly lower on Monday.

Among the major miners, BHP Group is declining almost 1 percent, while Fortescue Metals and Rio Tinto are edging down 0.5 percent each. Mineral Resources is gaining more than 1 percent.

Oil stocks are higher. Beach energy is gaining more than 1 percent and Origin Energy is edging up 0.2 percent, while Santos and Woodside Energy are adding almost 1 percent each.

Among tech stocks, Afterpay owner Block is losing almost 2 percent, Zip is declining 1.5 percent, WiseTech Global is down almost 1 percent and Xero is edging down 0.2 percent, while Appen is gaining more than 1 percent.

Gold miners are mostly lower. Newmont is declining more than 2 percent, Evolution Mining is edging down 0.5 percent and Northern Star resources is down almost 1 percent, while Gold Road Resources is edging up 0.2 percent and Resolute Mining is gaining almost 1 percent.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank, ANZ Banking, Westpac and National Australia Bank are losing almost 1 percent each.

In other news, shares in Mesoblast are soaring more than 9 percent after the recent approval of one of the biotechnology company's mesenchymal stromal cell (MSC) therapy in the U.S. buy the FDA.

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