Australian Market Trims Early Losses In Mid-market

The Australian market is trimming its early losses in mid-market moves on Thursday, extending the losses in the previous three sessions, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is falling well below the 8,600 level, with weakness in gold miners and technology stocks as well as a mixed performance in most other sectors.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 12.30 points or 0.14 percent to 8,572.90, after hitting a low of 8,553.00 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 15.80 points or 0.18 percent to 8,858.40. Australian stocks ended modestly lower on Wednesday.

Among major miners, Rio Tinto is gaining almost 2 percent, BHP Group is edging up 0.4 percent and Mineral Resources is adding almost 1 percent, while Fortescue is edging down 0.3 percent.

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

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block is losing almost 1 percent, WiseTech Global is edging down 0.3 percent and Zip declining almost 3 percent, while Appen and Xero are down more than 1 percent each.

Among the big four banks, ANZ Banking and Commonwealth Bank are edging up 0.1 to 0.2 percent each, while National Australia Bank and Westpac are edging down 0.2 to 0.3 percent each.

Among gold miners, Evolution Mining is losing almost 2 percent, Genesis Minerals is down more than 1 percent, Northern Star Resources is slipping 2.5 percent and Newmont is edging down 0.5 percent, while Resolute Mining is gaining more than 1 percent.

In other news, shares in Boss Energy are tumbling almost 28 percent after revealing that the Honeymoon project review deviates significantly from 2021 forecasts, affecting future production and costs due to less optimal mineralisation.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.660 on Thursday.

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