The Australian market has slightly pared its initial losses, yet it remains notably lower in mid-market trading on Thursday. The S&P/ASX 200 index is approaching the 8,300 mark, driven by declines across most sectors, particularly in technology and financials, while gold mining stocks stand out as the sole performers in positive territory.
As of now, the S&P/ASX 200 Index has slipped 41.30 points, or 0.50%, to 8,307.80, after reaching a low of 8,291.90 earlier today. Meanwhile, the broader All Ordinaries Index has dipped by 42.30 points, or 0.49%, landing at 8,557.10. This follows a robust performance by Australian stocks on Wednesday.
In the mining sector, shares of Mineral Resources have dropped nearly 3%, and BHP Group has declined over 1%. Conversely, Rio Tinto and Fortescue Metals display slight gains, rising by 0.2% to 0.3%.
Oil stocks are predominantly in decline, with Woodside Energy, Beach Energy, and Santos each losing more than 1%. Origin Energy, however, shows a modest uptick of 0.2%.
Within the technology sector, Block (the owner of Afterpay) has fallen by over 1%, WiseTech Global is down nearly 1%, Appen is sliding almost 8%, and Zip is down around 3%. Xero bucks the trend with a slight increase of 0.1%.
Among the leading banks, Commonwealth Bank and ANZ Banking have both decreased by nearly 1%, while Westpac and National Australia Bank are slightly down by 0.4% to 0.5%. In the gold mining domain, Evolution Mining and Gold Road Resources have each gained nearly 2%, Newmont is up almost 3%, and Northern Star Resources has climbed more than 3%, whereas Resolute Mining has fallen almost 2%.
On another note, Star Entertainment's shares have plunged nearly 25% following a warning that the company possesses only $79 million in cash, substantially lower than its recent quarterly expenditure. Avita Medical has also seen its shares fall by almost 13% after acknowledging it will not meet revenue forecasts.
In economic developments, the Australian Bureau of Statistics has reported a seasonally adjusted 0.8% increase in the value of Australian retail sales for November, amounting to AUD 37.052 billion. This figure falls short of the predicted 1.0% rise but marks an improvement from October's 0.6%.
Australia's merchandise trade surplus reached a seasonally adjusted AUD 7.079 billion in November, surpassing the anticipated AUD 5.750 billion, following an upward revision of October's surplus to AUD 5.670 billion. Exports rose by 4.8% to AUD 43.816 billion, an increase from the previously revised 3.5% in October, and imports grew by 1.7% to AUD 36.737 billion after a slight contraction in the prior month.
In currency exchanges, the Australian dollar was trading at USD 0.621 on Thursday.
The material has been provided by InstaForex Company -
www.instaforex.com
