Australian Market Trims Early Losses In Mid-market

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is trimming its early losses in mid-market trading on Monday, extending the slight losses in the previous session, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street on Friday. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index is staying below the 8,600.00 level, with weakness in technology and financial stocks partially offset by gains in gold miners and energy stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 4.40 points or 0.05 percent to 8,875.70, after hitting a low of 8,558.30 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 1.40 points or 0.02 percent to 8,818.90. Australian stocks closed slightly lower on Friday.

Among the major miners, BHP Group and Rio Tinto are gaining more than 1 percent each, while Mineral Resources is adding more than 2 percent and Fortescue Metals is edging down 0.3 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly higher. Woodside Energy, Santos and Beach energy are edging up 0.4 to 0.5 percent each, while Origin Energy is gaining almost 1 percent.

Among tech stocks, Afterpay owner Block is sliding almost 5 percent, WiseTech Global is losing almost 1 percent and Xero is edging down 0.2 percent, while Appen and Zip are declining more than 4 percent each.

Gold miners are mostly higher. Resolute Mining is adding almost 2 percent and Gold Road Resources is up almost 1 percent, while Evolution Mining, Northern Star Resources and Newmont are gaining more than 1 percent each.

Among the big four banks, Westpac and ANZ Banking are declining almost 1 percent each, while Commonwealth Bank is edging down 0.4 percent. National Australia Bank is edging up 0.1 percent.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.656 on Monday.