Australian Market Maintains Early Losses In Mid-market

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is maintaining its early losses in mid-market moves on Friday, extending 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 8,700 level, with weakness across most sectors led by energy and technology stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 59.70 points or 0.68 percent to 8,683.10, after hitting a low of 8,650.90 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 60.20 points or 0.67 percent to 8,938.80. Australian stocks closed modestly lower on Thursday.

Among major miners, BHP Group and Rio Tinto Fortescue are gaining almost 1 percent each, while Mineral Resources is gaining more than 3 percent.

Oil stocks are mixed. Santos is edging up 0.1 percent and Origin Energy is gaining almost 1 percent, while Beach energy is losing almost 2 percent and Woodside Energy is down almost 1 percent.

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

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank, National Australia Bank and Westpac are losing almost 2 percent each, while ANZ Banking is flat.

Gold miners are mostly lower. Evolution Mining is losing almost 1 percent and Resolute Mining is down almost 2 percent, while Northern Star Resources and Newmont are declining more than 1 percent each. Gold Road Resources is edging up 0.3 percent.

In other news, shares in 4DMedical are skyrocketing almost 21 percent after the respiratory imaging technology company revealed a significant investment from health imaging giant Pro Medicus Ltd.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.643 on Friday.