Australian Market Slips To Modest Losses In Mid-market

The Australian stock market is slipping to modest losses in mid-market trading on Tuesday after opening in the green, extending the losses in the previous two sessions, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is falling to near the 9,000 mark, with weakness in financial and technology stocks partially offset by gains is mining and energy stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 13.80 points or 0.15 percent to 9,012.20, after touching a high of 9,054.70 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 18.40 points or 0.20 percent to 9,233.10. Australian stocks closed notably lower on Monday.

Among the major miners, BHP Group is gaining almost 2 percent and Mineral Resources is surging almost 5 percent, while Rio Tinto and Fortescue are adding almost 1 percent each.

Oil stocks are mostly higher. Woodside Energy is gaining more than 1 percent, while Santos, Origin Energy and Beach energy are edging up 0.2 to 0.4 percent each.

Among tech stocks, Afterpay owner Block is declining more than 3 percent, Zip is declining almost 4 percent, Xero is down more than 2 percent, WiseTech Global is slipping almost 3 percent and Appen is advancing almost 4 percent.

Gold miners are mostly higher. Evolution Mining and Northern Star resources are advancing more than 3 percent each, while Genesis Minerals is gaining 1.5 percent and Newmont is edging up 0.1 percent. Resolute Mining is edging down 0.2 percent.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank and National Australia Bank are edging down 0.2 percent each, while ANZ Banking is losing more than 1 percent. Westpac is flat.

In other news, shares in Monadelphous Group are jumping more than 13 percent after the mining and engineering services provider posted upbeat results for the first-half of the year. It also declared a higher interim dividend of 49 cents per share.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.706 on Tuesday.

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