The Australian stock market is trimming its early losses in mid-market trading on Monday, extending the losses in the previous two sessions, despite the broadly positive cues from Wall Street on Friday. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index is falling to near the 8,900.00 level, with weakness in iron ore miners and energy nearly offset by gains in gold miners and technology stocks.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 5.50 points or 0.06 percent to 8,941.40, after hitting a low of 8,898.40 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 2.40 points or 0.03 percent to 9,166.30. Australian stocks closed slightly lower on Friday.
Among the major miners, Rio Tinto and BHP Group are losing almost 1 percent each, while Fortescue and Mineral Resources are declining more than 1 percent each.
Oil stocks are mostly lower. Beach energy, Santos and Origin Energy are losing almost 2 percent each, while Woodside Energy is declining almost 3 percent.
Among tech stocks, Afterpay owner Block is gaining more than 2 percent, Zip is jumping more than 10 percent and Xero is edging up 0.3 percent, while WiseTech Global is edging down 0.2 percent and Appen is losing almost 1 percent.
Gold miners are mostly higher. Northern Star Resources is gaining almost 1 percent, Resolute Mining is up more than 1 percent and Evolution Mining is advancing almost 2 percent, while Genesis Minerals and Newmont are adding more than 2 percent each.
Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank is gaining almost 1 percent and Westpac is edging up 0.2 percent, while National Australia Bank is declining more than 3 percent and ANZ Banking is losing almost 1 percent. In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.715 on Monday.
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Market Analysis
April 17, 2026 15:29 ET The ongoing conflict in the Middle East continues to raise concerns for policymakers who worry about the impact of the supply shock and high energy prices on the real economy. Producer price data and various survey results on the housing market were the main news from the U.S. this week. In Europe, industrial production data for the euro area gained attention. GDP figures out of China and the policy move by the Singapore central bank were in focus in Asia.