The Australian market is extending its early sharp gains in mid-market moves on Thursday, reversing the losses in the previous session, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is moving well above the 8,600 level, with gains in mining, financial and technology stocks partially offset by weakness in energy stocks.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 142.50 points or 1.68 percent to 8,639.10, after touching a high of 8,649.70 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 142.60 points or 1.64 percent to 8,859.60. Australian stocks ended sharply lower on Wednesday.
Among major miners, Rio Tinto is gaining more than 2 percent and Fortescue is edging up 0.5 percent, while BHP Group and Mineral Resources are advancing almost 3 percent each.
Oil stocks are mostly lower. Beach energy is declining almost 3 percent, Woodside Energy is losing almost 2 percent, Santos is down almost 1 percent and Origin Energy is edging down 0.2 percent.
In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block is gaining more than 2 percent, WiseTech Global is edging up 0.1 percent and Zip is advancing more than 4 percent, while Xero is losing more than 1 percent and Appen is down almost 1 percent.
Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank is gaining almost 2 percent, while Westpac, ANZ Banking and National Australia Bank is advancing more than 2 percent each.
Among gold miners, Evolution Mining is advancing almost 4 percent, Newmont is gaining more than 2 percent, Genesis Minerals is adding almost 2 percent and Resolute Mining is rising more than 3 percent, while Northern Star Resources is losing almost 1 percent.
In economic news, the manufacturing sector in Australia continued to expand in May, albeit at a slower pace, the latest survey from S&P Global revealed on Thursday with a manufacturing PMI score of 50.2. That's down from 51.3 in April, although it remains above the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction. The survey also showed that the services PMI fell to 47.7 in May from 50.7 in April, while composite PMI dropped to 47.8 from 50.4.
In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.711 on Thursday.
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Market Analysis
May 15, 2026 15:25 ET Apart from the confirmation of Kevin Warsh as the next Fed chair, the main news on the economics front this week included key price data from the U.S. and the first quarter economic growth figures from major economies. Both consumer prices and producer costs have started to reflect the effect of supply shocks due to the Middle East conflict. In Europe, GDP data was in focus, while inflation data from China dominated the news flow in Asia.