Australian Market Slightly Lower

(RTTNews) - Extending the losses in the previous session, the Australian stock market is slightly lower on Friday, following the mixed cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is staying below the 7,100 level, dragged by losses in energy stocks nearly offset by gains in mining and financial stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 10.20 points or 0.15 percent to 7,048.20, after hitting a low of 7,045.70 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 9.60 points or 0.13 percent to 7,259.90. Australian markets ended notably lower on Thursday.

Among major miners, BHP Group, Fortescue Metals, Mineral Resources and Rio Tinto are edging up 0.4 to 0.5 percent each. Oil stocks are mostly lower. Santos is losing almost 1 percent, Woodside Energy is declining more than 2 percent and Beach energy is down more than 1 percent, while Origin Energy is gaining almost 1 percent.

Among tech stocks, Afterpay owner Block, Appen and Xero are edging up 0.4 to 0.5 percent each, while WiseTech Global is gaining almost 1 percent and Zip is adding almost 2 percent.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank is edging up 0.2 percent, while ANZ Banking, National Australia Bank and Westpac are losing almost 1 percent each. Gold miners are mostly higher. Northern Star Resources is gaining more than 3 percent, Evolution Mining is surging more than 5 percent, Resolute Mining is adding almost 2 percent, Gold Road Resources is advancing more than 4 percent and Newmont is up 1.5 percent.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.647 on Friday.

On Wall Street, stocks turned in a relatively lackluster performance during trading on Thursday after moving sharply higher over the past few sessions. The major averages spent most of the session modestly below the unchanged line but ended the day narrowly mixed.

The Dow closed down 45.74 points or 0.1 percent at 34,945.47, while the Nasdaq crept up 9.84 points or 0.1 percent to 14,113.67 and the S&P 500 inched up 5.36 points or 0.1 percent to a more than two-month closing high of 4,508.24.

The major European markets also ended mixed on the day. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index slumped by 1.0 percent and the French CAC 40 Index slid by 0.6 percent, although the German DAX Index bucked the downtrend and edged up by 0.2 percent.

Crude oil prices fell sharply Thursday on fears of a likely drop in energy demand after soft data from the U.S., Europe and Asia raised worries about an economic slowdown. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December tumbled $3.76 or 4.9 percent at $72.90 a barrel.