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The Australian stock market is extending its early gains in mid-market trading on Monday, adding to the gains in the previous two sessions, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street on Friday. The benchmark S&P\/ASX 200 index is moving well above the 8,650.00 level, with gains across most other sectors led by mining and technology<\/span> stocks.<\/p>\n The benchmark S&P\/ASX 200 Index is gaining 79.50 points or 0.92 percent to 8,700.90, after touching a high of 8,709.00 and a low of 8,599.60 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 83.00 points or 0.93 percent to 9,001.30. Australian stocks closed modestly higher on Friday. <\/p>\n Among the major miners, BHP Group is gaining almost 1 percent, Rio Tinto is adding more than 1 percent, Fortescue is advancing almost 2 percent and Mineral Resources is surging almost 4 percent.<\/p>\n Oil stocks are mostly higher. Beach energy and Santos are gaining almost 1 percent each, while Woodside Energy and Origin Energy are edging up 0.2 to 0.5 percent each.<\/p>\n Among tech stocks, Afterpay owner Block is advancing almost 2 percent, Zip is gaining more than 1 percent, Xero is edging up 0.2 percent and Appen is surging almost 7 percent, while WiseTech Global is losing almost 4 percent.<\/p>\n Gold miners are mostly higher. Northern Star Resources and Genesis Minerals are adding almost 3 percent each, while Resolute Mining is up 2.5 percent, Evolution Mining is gaining more than 2 percent and Newmont is advancing almost 4 percent.<\/p>\n Among the big four banks, Westpac and National Australia Bank edging down 0.1 to 0.3 percent each, while ANZ Banking is gaining almost 1 percent and Commonwealth Bank is edging up 0.4 percent.<\/p>\n In other news, shares in NextDC are jumping more than 7 percent after the data centre operator announced an increase in contracted utilization, reaching 412MW following recent customer contract wins, significantly exceeding earlier expectations.<\/p>\n In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.661 on Monday. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n Market Analysis<\/p>\n<\/div>\n