The Australian stock market is swinging to modest gains in mid-market moves on Wednesday, reversing the losses in the previous session, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 moving well above the 8,650 level, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight, with gains in iron ore miners and technology stocks partially offset by weakness in financial stocks.
The markets swung to gains following the release of the latest domestic inflation data that showed annual inflation came in softer than expected.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 17.30 points or 0.20 percent to 8,675.10, after hitting a low of 8,625.80 and a high of 8,672.50 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 23.50 points or 0.27 percent to 8,906.01. Australian stocks ended modestly lower on Tuesday.
Among major miners, BHP Group is adding more than 1 percent, while Mineral Resources, Rio Tinto and Fortescue are edging up 0.1 to 0.5 percent each.1
Oil stocks are mostly higher. Beach energy is edging up 0.5 percent, Origin Energy is gaining more than 2 percent and Santos is adding almost 1 percent, while Woodside Energy is edging down 0.3 percent.
In the tech space, Afterpay owner Block is gaining more than 1 percent, Xero is edging up 0.5 percent and Appen is advancing more than 4 percent, while WiseTech Global and Zip are adding almost 2 percent each.
Among the big four banks, National Australia bank and ANZ Banking are declining almost 2 percent each, while Westpac is losing more than 2 percent and Commonwealth Bank is down more than 1 percent.
Among gold miners, Evolution Mining is edging up 0.4 percent, while Northern Star Resources and Newmont are gaining almost 1 percent each. Resolute Mining is losing more than 1 percent and Genesis Minerals is edging down 0.5 percent.
In economic news, the annual inflation rate in Australia eased to 4.2 percent in April 2026 from 4.6 percent in March, coming in below expectations for a slowdown to 4.4 percent, but still remaining above the central bank's 2 to 3 percent target range.
The trimmed mean CPI rose 3.4 percent on year, the highest since September 2024 and in line with market expectations, while the weighted median CPI increased 3.5 percent, unchanged from March. On a monthly basis, consumer prices rose 0.4 percent, slowing sharply from a seven-month high gain of 1.1 percent in March, and coming in below the expected 0.6 percent increase.
Meanwhile, total construction work in Australia grew by 3.4 percent on quarter to A$83,360.6 million in the first quarter of 2026, surpassing market expectations of a 0.8 percent increase and the previous period's revised 0.2 percent rise. The increase also marked the sharpest since the first quarter of 2023.
On an annual basis, overall construction activity rose by 6.3 percent in the first quarter, marking the strongest growth since December 2023 and accelerating from a 3.2 percent gain in the preceding period.
In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.716 on Wednesday.
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Market Analysis
May 22, 2026 14:46 ET Minutes of the latest Fed policy session was the highlight of the week along with survey data on the U.S. housing market. In Europe, survey data signaled the trends in the euro area private sector. Further, consumer price inflation data from the U.K. was in focus. In Asia, various economic indicators from China drew attention to the health of the economy.