On Tuesday, the Australian stock market saw a decline in its early gains at midday, but it continued the upward movement from the previous session. This was prompted by generally positive signals from European markets, despite a lack of overnight direction from Wall Street. The key benchmark, the S&P/ASX 200 index, is approaching the 8,400 mark, with advances in the mining and financial sectors being partially counterbalanced by decreases in energy and technology stocks.
Specifically, the S&P/ASX 200 Index is up 44.70 points, or 0.54%, reaching 8,392.10, after hitting an earlier peak of 8,453.30. Meanwhile, the broader All Ordinaries Index has risen 46.90 points, or 0.55%, to 8,641.30, building on a significant rise in Australian stocks on Monday.
In the mining sector, BHP Group and Fortescue Metals are each seeing minor gains of 0.5%, while Mineral Resources is experiencing a loss exceeding 2%. Rio Tinto is seeing no change.
Contrastingly, oil stocks are on the decline. Both Origin Energy and Santos are down by more than 2%, Beach Energy has dropped roughly 1%, and Woodside Energy remains unchanged. In technology, Block, the owner of Afterpay, and Appen are each decreasing by 0.2 to 0.4%, whereas WiseTech Global and Xero have fallen by more than 1%. Zip is an exception, showing an increase of almost 2%.
Gold mining companies are on an upward trend. Gold Road Resources and Resolute Mining are both up nearly 2%, while Evolution Mining has increased by over 1% and Newmont by 0.4%. Northern Star Resources is steady.
The major banking institutions are seeing gains, with Commonwealth Bank and Westpac both up more than 1%, National Australia Bank rising over 2%, and ANZ Banking climbing almost 2%.
Elsewhere, Hub24 shares are surging over 12% following a report of record quarterly net inflows of $5.5 billion on its wealth platform.
Liontown Resources shares have jumped nearly 12%, as the lithium producer reported a tripling in spodumene concentrate output due to expansion at the Kathleen Valley Lithium Operation.
Conversely, Novonix shares have plummeted nearly 8%, following CEO Chris Burns' decision to resign.
Yancoal Australia shares have surged over 5% after announcing a 5% increase in saleable coal production, reaching 36.9 million tonnes, which aligns with their targets.
In the currency exchange market, the Australian dollar is quoted at $0.625 on Tuesday.
