(RTTNews) – The Australian stock market is slipping to modest losses in mid-market trading on Tuesday, extending the losses in the previous session, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is falling well below the 8,650 level, with weakness in energy and technology stocks as well as a mixed performance in most other sectors.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 27.30 points or 0.32 percent to 8,607.70, after touching a high of 8,672.20 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 35.50 points or 0.40 percent to 8,888.30. Australian stocks closed notably lower on Monday.
Among the major miners, BHP Group is edging up 0.2 percent and Rio Tinto is gaining almost 1 percent, while Fortescue is declining more than 2 percent and Mineral Resources is losing almost 2 percent.
Oil stocks are mostly lower. Beach energy, Woodside Energy, and Santos are losing almost 2 percent each, while Origin Energy is down more than 1 percent.
Among tech stocks, Afterpay owner Block is down more than 2 percent, WiseTech Global is losing almost 2 percent, Xero is declining more than 2 percent and Zip is slipping almost 3 percent, while Appen is gaining more than 1 percent.
Gold miners are mostly higher. Evolution Mining and Newmont are edging up 0.2 percent each, while Resolute Mining is advancing more than 3 percent. Northern Star resources is losing almost 1 percent and Genesis Minerals is declining almost 2 percent.
Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank, ANZ Banking and National Australia Bank are edging up 0.1 to 0.4 percent each, while Westpac is losing almost 1 percent.
In other news, shares in DroneShield are skyrocketing more than 21 percent after it secured a $49.6 million contract through a European reseller supplying a military end-customer.
In economic news, Australia’s composite index continued to expand in December, albeit at a slower pace, the latest survey from S&P Global revealed on Tuesday with a composite PMI score of 51.1. That’s down from 52.6 in November, although it remains above the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction.
The survey also showed that the manufacturing index improved to 52.2 from 51.6 in November, while the services PMI fell to 51.0 from 52.8.
In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.663 on Tuesday.
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