The Australian stock market is extending its early gains in mid-market moves on Friday, but 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 8,650 level, with gains across most sectors led by gold miners and technology stocks. Energy stocks were the only weak spot.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 89.70 points or 1.04 percent to 8,682.60, after touching a high of 8,662.70 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 97.70 points or 1.11 percent to 8,917.30. Australian stocks closed sharply lower on Thursday.
Among major miners, Rio Tinto and Mineral Resources are advancing more than 1 percent each, while BHP Group is gaining almost 2 percent and Fortescue is adding almost 1 percent.
Oil stocks are mostly lower. Woodside Energy is declining 1.5 percent and Origin Energy is edging down 0.2 percent, while Beach energy and Santos are losing almost 1 percent each.
Among tech stocks, Afterpay and Square-owner Block is advancing almost 4 percent, Xero is gaining almost 1 percent, Zip is adding 2.5 percent and Appen is edging up 0.4 percent, while WiseTech Global is edging down 0.3 percent.
Among the big four banks, ANZ Banking and National Australia Bank are gaining almost 1 percent each, while Commonwealth Bank and Westpac are edging up 0.2 to 0.4 percent each.
Gold miners are mostly higher. Northern Star Resources is jumping almost 5 percent, Resolute Mining is surging almost 6 percent and Genesis Minerals is gaining more than 6 percent, while Newmont and Evolution Mining are advancing more than 4 percent each.
In other news, shares in Tourism Holdings are skyrocketing more than 31 percent after BGH Capital and Queensland brothers Karl and Luke Trouchet sweetened their offer to NZ$3.10 per share to buy the dual Australian and New Zealand-listed campervan business.
In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.716 on Friday.
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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.