Australian Market Extends Early Losses In Mid-market

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is extending its early losses in mid-market trading on Tuesday, also adding to the slight losses in the previous session, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is staying well below the 9,000 mark, with weakness in financial and technology stocks as well as a mixed performance across other sectors.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 27.20 points or 0.30 percent to 8,954.20, after hitting a low of 8,937.20 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 29.90 points or 0.32 percent to 9,250.10. Australian stocks closed slightly lower on Monday.

Among the major miners, BHP Group, Mineral Resources and Rio Tinto are gaining almost 1 percent each, while Fortescue is losing almost 1 percent. Oil stocks are mixed. Santos and Origin Energy are losing almost 1 percent each, while Woodside Energy is edging up 0.4 percent and Beach energy is gaining more than 1 percent.

Among tech stocks, Afterpay owner Block and Zip are edging down 0.2 to 0.5 percent each, while Appen is declining more than 1 percent and WiseTech Global is losing almost 2 percent. Xero is edging up 0.1 percent.

Gold miners are mostly lower. Northern Star resources, Resolute Mining and Evolution Mining are edging down 0.2 to 0.5 percent each, while Newmont is edging up 0.5 percent.

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

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.662 on Tuesday.