Australian Market Trims Early Gains In Mid-market

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is trimming its early gains in mid-market moves on Friday, reversing the losses in the previous two sessions, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is moving up near the 8,800 level, with gains in financial, energy and technology stocks partially offset by a mixed performance in mining stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 51.30 points or 0.59 percent to 8,796.50, after touching a high of 8,821.00 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 55.10 points or 0.61 percent to 9,086.00. Australian stocks closed notably lower on Thursday.

Among major miners, BHP Group and Fortescue are edging up 0.1 to 0.3 percent each, while Mineral Resources is slipping almost 2 percent and Rio Tinto is edging down 0.3 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly higher. Beach energy, Santos and Woodside Energy are gaining more than 1 percent each, while Origin Energy is advancing more than 3 percent. Among tech stocks, Zip is adding more than 3 percent, Xero is advancing more than 1 percent and Afterpay-owner Block is rising almost 2 percent, while WiseTech Global is edging down 0.2 percent. Appen is flat.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank is gaining more than 1 percent, ANZ Banking is edging up 0.3 percent and National Australia Bank is adding almost 1 percent, while Westpac is losing almost 1 percent.

Gold miners are mixed. Gold Road Resources is edging down 0.3 percent and Resolute Mining is losing almost 1 percent. Northern Star Resources is adding more than 1 percent, while Evolution Mining and Newmont are edging up 0.1 to 0.3 percent each.

In other news, shares in Telix Pharmaceuticals are jumping more than 7 percent after Citi initiated coverage with a "buy" rating, saying the medical diagnostics giant's prostate cancer treatment has the potential to become a "blockbuster drug".

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