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The Australian stock market is maintaining its early gains in mid-market moves on Friday, snapping an eight-session losing streak, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P\/ASX 200 is moving up to near the 8,750 level, with gains in mining and technology<\/span> stocks partially offset by weakness in energy stocks.<\/p>\n Traders also picked up stocks at a bargain after the recent string of losses in the markets<\/span>.<\/p>\n The benchmark S&P\/ASX 200 Index is gaining 84.00 points or 0.97 percent to 8,749.80, after touching a high of 8,764.10 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 83.00 points or 0.93 percent to 8,970.60. Australian stocks closed slightly lower on Thursday.<\/p>\n Among major miners, Rio Tinto is advancing almost 4 percent, Fortescue is adding almost 2 percent, BHP Group is gaining almost 3 percent and Mineral Resources is surging almost 5 percent.<\/p>\n Oil stocks are mixed. Woodside Energy is losing almost 1 percent and Santos is edging down 0.1 percent, while Origin Energy is gaining almost 1 percent and Beach energy is edging up 0.4 percent.<\/p>\n Among tech stocks, Afterpay-owner Block and Xero are gaining almost 1 percent each, while WiseTech Global is advancing almost 3 percent, Appen is surging more than 6 percent and Zip is edging up 0.4 percent.<\/p>\n Among the big four banks, National Australia Bank, Westpac, Commonwealth Bank and ANZ Banking are edging down 0.1 to 0.4 percent each.<\/p>\n Gold miners are mostly higher. Northern Star Resources is adding almost 2 percent, while Genesis Minerals, Evolution Mining, Resolute Mining and Newmont are advancing more than 2 percent each.<\/p>\n In economic news, the manufacturing sector in Australia continued to expand in April, and at a faster pace, the latest survey from S&P Global revealed on Friday with a manufacturing PMI score of 51.3. That’s up from 51.0 in March and it moves further above the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction.<\/p>\n In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.720 on Friday. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n Market Analysis<\/p>\n<\/div>\n