Australian Market Extends Early Losses In Mid-market

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is extending its early losses in mid-market moves on Friday, adding to the sharp losses in the previous session, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is falling well below the 8,500 level, with weakness in mining and financial stocks partially offset by gains in technology stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 42.20 points or 0.50 percent to 8,455.60, after hitting a low of 8,438.00 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 41.70 points or 0.48 percent to 8,649.00. Australian stocks closed sharply lower on Thursday.

Among major miners, BHP Group is losing almost 2 percent, Rio Tinto is declining more than 3 percent, Fortescue is slipping almost 1 percent and Mineral Resources is edging down 0.2 percent.

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

Among tech stocks, Afterpay-owner Block is advancing more than 1 percent, WiseTech Global is adding more than 3 percent, Appen is up almost 2 percent and Xero is gaining almost 1 percent, while Zip is losing more than 1 percent.

Among the big four banks, National Australia Bank is losing almost 2 percent and Westpac is declining almost 1 percent, while Commonwealth Bank and ANZ Banking are edging down 0.3 to 0.5 percent each. Gold miners are weak. Evolution Mining and Resolute Mining are losing almost 1 percent each, while Northern Star Resources is declining almost 2 percent and Newmont is slipping more than 3 percent. Genesis Minerals is gaining almost 4 percent.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.708 on Friday.