Australian Market Trims Early Losses In Mid-market

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is trimming its early losses in mid-market trading on Tuesday, but extending the losses in the previous session, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is falling below the 7,900 level, with weakness is mining and technology stocks partially offset by gains in energy and financial stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 70.40 points or 0.88 percent to 7,891.90, after hitting a low of 7,818.30 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 87.90 points or 1.07 percent to 8,103.80. Australian stocks closed modestly higher on Monday.

Among the major miners, Mineral Resources is sliding more than 3 percent and Fortescue Metals is declining more than 1 percent, while BHP Group and Rio Tinto are edging up 0.3 to 0.4 percent each.

Oil stocks are mostly higher. Beach energy, Santos and Woodside Energy are gaining almost 1 percent each, while Origin Energy is adding more than 1 percent.

Among tech stocks, Afterpay owner Block is sliding almost 8 percent and Xero is slipping more than 5 percent, while Appen, Zip and WiseTech Global are declining more than 3 percent each.

Gold miners are mostly lower. Evolution Mining is losing almost 4 percent, Resolute Mining is declining more than 1 percent, Newmont is tumbling more than 3 percent, Gold Road Resources is slipping more than 4 percent and Northern Star resources is down almost 3 percent.

Among the big four banks, National Australia Bank is edging up 0.5 percent, while ANZ Banking and Westpac are gaining more than 1 percent each. Commonwealth Bank is edging down 0.1 percent.

In other news, shares in Star Entertainment are still under a trading halt amid financial rescue plan as US casino giant Bally's offered to buy a controlling stake in the beleaguered casino operator.

Shares in Nickel Industries are tumbling almost 18 percent after news the Indonesian government is considering a major overhaul of its mining royalty system. The company operates a portfolio of mining and downstream nickel processing assets.

Shares in PolyNovo are slipping almost 8 percent after it said chief executive Swami Raote would step down with immediate effect. In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.628 on Tuesday.