Australian Market Slips To Significant Losses In Mid-market

The Australian market is slipping to significant losses in mid-market moves on Thursday after opening in the green, reversing some of the gains in the previous two sessions, despite the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is falling below the 8,600 level, with weakness in mining and technology stocks partially offset by gains in energy and financial stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 84.50 points or 0.97 percent to 8,587.30, after touching a high of 8,723.30 and a low of 8,586.20 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 100.30 points or 1.13 percent to 8,785.30. Australian stocks ended sharply higher on Wednesday.

Among major miners, Rio Tinto and Fortescue are declining more than 2 percent each, while Mineral Resources slipping more than 4 percent and BHP Group is losing almost 2 percent.

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

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block is slipping more than 3 percent, Zip is sliding more than 8 percent, WiseTech Global is tumbling more than 5 percent, Xero is losing more than 4 percent and Appen is declining almost 5 percent.

Among the big four banks, ANZ Banking, National Australia Bank, Westpac and Commonwealth Bank are edging up 0.2 to 0.5 percent each.

Among gold miners, Newmont is gaining almost 2 percent and Northern Star Resources is edging up 0.2 percent. Resolute Mining and Evolution Mining are losing more than 3 percent each, while Genesis Minerals is slipping almost 6 percent.

In other news, shares in KMD Brands are tanking almost 55 percent after the Rip Curl and Kathmandu owner resumed trading on Thursday, following the completion of the $6.8 million institutional component of its emergency capital raising. The retail component ill open next week and is expected to raise gross proceeds of $21.1 million.

Shares in KGL Resources are skyrocketing more than 19 percent after the copper and gold project developer said it secured a US$300 million funding package towards the construction of its Jervois project in the Northern Territory.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.688 on Thursday.

Market Analysis