Australian Market Slightly Higher

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is slightly higher in choppy trading on Monday, recouping some of the losses in the previous session, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 moving a tad above the 6,800 level, despite the broadly negative cues from Wall Street on Friday, aided by gains in resources stocks as iron ore prices jumped over the weekend, nearly offset by weakness in technology stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 10.50 points or 0.16 percent to 6,802.00, after touching a high of 6,803.00 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 8.30 points or 0.12 percent to 7,020.10. Australian stocks closed slightly lower on Friday.

Among the major miners, BHP Group, Mineral Resources and Rio Tinto are gaining almost 1 percent each, while Fortescue Metals is adding more than 1 percent. OZ Minerals is slipping more than 3 percent.

Oil stocks are mixed. Santos is edging down 0.2 percent, while Beach energy and Woodside Energy are losing more than 1 percent each. Origin Energy is gaining almost 2 percent.

Among tech stocks, Afterpay owner Block is losing more than 3 percent, WiseTech Global down more than 1 percent, Xero is declining more than 2 percent, Zip is slipping almost 4 percent and Appen is plunging more than 9 percent.

Shares in EML Payments are plummeting more than 19 percent following the release of an update on its dealings with the Central Bank of Ireland.

Gold miners are mixed, Gold Road Resources is losing more than 1 percent and Newcrest Mining is down almost 1 percent, while Evolution Mining and Northern Star Resources are gaining almost 1 percent each. Resolute Mining is flat.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank and Westpac are edging down 0.2 percent each, while National Australia Bank is edging up 0.2 percent. ANZ Banking is flat.

In other news, shares in Genex are skyrocketing more than 48 percent after the renewable energy firm received a bid from a consortium led by Skip Capital Infrastructure Fund and Stonepeak Partners. Skip holds 19.99 percent of Genex.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.689 on Monday.

On Wall Street, stocks moved to the downside over the course of the trading day on Friday after turning in a mixed performance early in the session. The tech-heavy Nasdaq led the way lower and was eventually joined in negative territory by the Dow.

The major averages all closed in the red, although the Nasdaq underperformed its counterparts by a wide margin. While the Nasdaq tumbled by 225.50 points or 1.9 percent to 11,834.11, the S&P 500 slumped 37.32 points or 0.9 percent to 3,961.63 and the Dow fell by 137.61 points or 0.4 percent at 31,899.29.

Meanwhile, the major European markets all moved modestly higher on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index crept up by 0.3 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index and the German DAX Index both inched up by 0.1 percent.

Crude oil futures settled sharply lower on Friday as prices fell on concerns about the outlook for energy demand. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September ended lower by $1.65 or 1.7 percent at $94.70 a barrel.