Australian Market Swings To Modest Gains In Mid-market

(RTTNews) - The Australian market is swinging to modest gains in mid-market moves on Thursday, reversing some of the losses in the previous two sessions, despite the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is staying well above the 9,000 mark, with gains in gold miners and energy stocks partially offset by weakness in iron ore miners, financial and technology stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 12.30 points or 0.14 percent to 9,042.30, after hitting a low of 8,986.20 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 15.00 points or 0.16 percent to 9,336.10. Australian stocks ended notably lower on Wednesday.

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

Oil stocks are mostly higher. Beach energy is gaining more than 3 percent, Origin Energy is up almost 1 percent, Santos is adding more than 2 percent and Woodside Energy is advancing almost 4 percent.

In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block and WiseTech Global are losing more than 2 percent each, while Zip is slipping almost 4 percent and Xero is declining almost 2 percent. Appen is flat.

Among the big four banks, National Australia Bank and Commonwealth Bank are losing almost 1 percent each, while Westpac is edging down 0.3 percent and ANZ Banking is edging up 0.2 percent.

Among gold miners, Evolution Mining is rising almost 2 percent and Northern Star Resources is advancing almost 3 percent, while Newmont, Genesis Minerals and Resolute Mining are adding more than 1 percent each.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.649 on Thursday.