Australian Market Maintains Early Losses In Mid-market

The Australian stock market is maintaining its early losses in mid-market trading on Tuesday, reversing some of the gains in the previous two sessions, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index is falling below the 8,800 level, with weakness across most sectors led by mining and financial stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 64.50 points or 0.73 percent to 8,781.20, after hitting a low of 8,747.30 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 65.70 points or 0.73 percent to 8,910.00. Australian stocks closed modestly higher on Monday.

Among the major miners, Rio Tinto is down almost 1 percent, BHP Group is losing more than 2 percent and Fortescue is edging down 0.3 percent, while Mineral Resources is edging up 0.1 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly lower. Beach energy is losing more than 1 percent, while Woodside Energy, Origin Energy and Santos are down almost 1 percent each.

Among tech stocks, Afterpay owner Block is losing almost 2 percent and Zip is down almost 1 percent. WiseTech Global and Xero are adding almost 1 percent each, while Appen is gaining more than 1 percent.

Gold miners are mostly lower. Evolution Mining and Resolute Mining are declining more than 3 percent each, while Northern Star Resources is losing more than 2 percent, Genesis Minerals is slipping almost 3 percent and Newmont is down almost 1 percent.

Among the big four banks, ANZ Banking down more than 1 percent, while Westpac and Commonwealth Bank are losing more than 1 percent each. National Australia Bank is slipping almost 3 percent after it announced plans to cut 2,500 jobs over the next financial year.

In other news, shares in Ingenia Communities are surging more than 10 percent after saying it was still negotiating with US private equity group Warburg Pincus ahead of the decision deadline for its $2.14 billion takeover offer.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.698 on Tuesday.

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