Australian Market Slightly Lower

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is trading slightly lower on Friday after opening in the green, extending the losses in the previous session, despite the broadly positive cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is staying below the 8,600 level, with weakness is technology stocks partially offset by gains in gold miners and energy stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 4.00 points or 0.05 percent to 8,561.10, after touching a high of 8,577.40 and a low of 8,556.10 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 8.30 points or 0.09 percent to 8,787.70. Australian stocks closed modestly lower on Thursday.

Among major miners, BHP Group and Mineral Resources are losing almost 1 percent each, while Fortescue Metals and Rio Tinto are edging up 0.1 percent each. Oil stocks are mostly higher. Santos and Woodside Energy are gaining more than 2 percent, while Beach energy and Origin Energy are advancing almost 3 percent each.

Among tech stocks, Xero is edging down 0.3 percent, WiseTech Global is losing more than 1 percent and Appen is declining almost 2 percent, while Zip is advancing more than 2 percent. Afterpay-owner Block is flat.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank and ANZ Banking are flat, while National Australia Bank and Westpac are edging down 0.1 to 0.3 percent each.

Gold miners are mostly higher. Gold Road Resources is up more than 1 percent, Northern Star Resources is adding almost 3 percent, Newmont is surging more than 5 percent, Evolution Mining is gaining more than 4 percent and Resolute Mining is advancing 3.5 percent.

In other news, shares in Accent Group, which owns the Hype and Platypus chains and fashion outlet Glue Store, plunged almost 20 percent after the footwear retailer warned that sales have flagged post-Christmas.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.649 on Friday.

On Wall Street, stocks moved mostly higher over the course of the trading day on the Thursday but gave back ground in the latter part of the session to close roughly flat. The major averages pulled back well off their highs in the final hour of trading before closing narrowly mixed.

While the Nasdaq rose 53.09 points or 0.3 percent to 18,925.73, the Dow edged down 1.35 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 41,859.09 and the S&P 500 slipped 2.60 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 5,842.01.

Meanwhile, the major European markets moved to the downside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index slid by 0.6 percent, the German DAX Index and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index both declined by 0.5 percent.

Crude oil prices saw further downside on Thursday after reports suggested that OPEC members are discussing a third consecutive oil production surge in July. West Texas Intermediate crude for July delivery slid $0.37 or 0.6 percent to $61.20 a barrel.