\n<\/p>\n
The Australian stock market is doubling its early gains in mid-market moves on Friday, extending the slight gains in the previous session, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P\/ASX 200 is moving well above the 8,800 level, with gains in gold miners and financial stocks partially offset weakness in iron ore miner stocks.<\/p>\n
The benchmark S&P\/ASX 200 Index is gaining 109.60 points or 1.26 percent to 8,834.10, after touching a high of 8,845.00 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 106.10 points or 1.19 percent to 9,037.00. Australian stocks closed slightly higher on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Among major miners, Rio Tinto is losing almost 1 percent and Fortescue is declining more than 2 percent, while Mineral Resources and BHP Group are edging up 0.2 percent each.<\/p>\n
Oil stocks are mostly lower. Origin Energy and Woodside Energy are edging down 0.2 to 0.5 percent each, while Santos is edging up 0.1 percent. Beach energy is flat.<\/p>\n
Among tech stocks, Afterpay and Square-owner Block is gaining almost 2 percent and Xero is edging up 0.3 percent, while Zip is edging down 0.2 percent and Appen is losing more than 1 percent. WiseTech Global is flat.<\/p>\n
Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank and ANZ Banking are gaining almost 1 percent each, while National Australia Bank is edging down 0.2 percent. Westpac is edging down 0.2 percent.<\/p>\n
Gold miners are mostly higher. Northern Star Resources is surging almost 7 percent, Evolution Mining is gaining more than 4 percent, Newmont is advancing almost 4 percent and Resolute Mining is adding almost 2 percent. Genesis Minerals is soaring more than 10 percent after it met FY26 production guidance and advanced growth projects.<\/p>\n
In other news, shares in Boss Energy are surging more than 6 percent after the company announced that it has achieved its revised full year FY 2026 uranium production guidance.<\/p>\n
In economic news, the services sector in Australia moved into expansion territory in June, the latest survey from S&P Global revealed on Friday with a services PMI score of 50.5. That’s up from 48.7 in May and it moves above the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction. The survey also showed that the composite index improved to 50.4 in June from 48.7 in May.<\/p>\n
In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.694 on Friday. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Market Analysis<\/p>\n<\/div>\n