Australian Market Modestly Lower

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is trading modestly lower on Monday, reversing the gains in the previous two sessions, despite the broadly positive cues from Wall Street on Friday. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index is falling to near the 7,900.00 level, with a mixed performance across most sectors.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 13.30 points or 0.17 percent to 7,917.90, after hitting a low of 7,899.50 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 16.50 points or 0.20 percent to 8,142.20. Australian stocks closed slightly higher on Friday.

Among the major miners, Rio Tinto and Fortescue Metals are edging up 0.2 percent each, while Mineral Resources is adding almost 2 percent. BHP Group is losing almost 1 percent. Oil stocks are mostly higher. Woodside Energy and Santos are edging up 0.1 percent each, while Beach energy is gaining almost 1 percent. Origin Energy is flat.

Among tech stocks, Afterpay owner Block and Zip are advancing more than 1 percent each, while Xero is edging up 0.41 percent and Appen is adding more than 2 percent. WiseTech Global is losing more than 2 percent.

Gold miners are mostly higher. Evolution Mining is gaining almost 1 percent, while Newmont and Gold Road Resources are edging up 0.1 to 0.2 percent each. Northern Star Resources is losing almost 1 percent and Resolute Mining is declining almost 2 percent.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank is gaining almost 1 percent, while ANZ Banking and Westpac are edging up 0.1 to 0.4 percent each. National Australia Bank is flat.

In other news, shares in Helia are plummeting almost 26 percent after the lender mortgage insurance provided an update on its supply and service contract with Commonwealth Bank, which may not run beyond December 31 as the banking giant is in exclusive talks with an alternative mortgage insurers.

Shares in James Hardie Industries are tumbling more than 11 percent after striking a deal to merge with NYSE-listed AZEK in a cash and share transaction worth $8.8 billion (A$14 billion).

Shares in Synlait Milk are also slumping almost 11 percent as the milk producer's latest result failed to impress investors. That was despite Synlait swinging back to profit and posting a 105 percent spike in profit.

In economic news, the manufacturing sector in Australia continued to expand in March, and at a faster pace, the latest survey from S&P Global revealed on Monday with a manufacturing PMI score of 52.6. That's up from 50.4 in February, and it moves further above the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction. The survey also showed that the services PMI improved to 51.2 from 50.8 in the previous month, and the composite PMI went up to 51.3 from 50.6 a month earlier.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.627 on Monday.

On Wall Street, stocks showed a significant recovery over the course of the trading day on Friday after moving sharply lower early in the session. The major averages climbed well off their worst levels of the day and into positive territory.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq saw a notable advance going into the close, ending the day up 92.43 points or 0.5 percent at 17,784.05 after tumbling by as much as 1.2 percent in early trading. The Dow and the S&P 500 posted more modest gains. The Dow inched up 32.03 points or 0.1 percent to 41,985.35 and the S&P 500 crept up 4.67 points or 0.1 percent to 5,667.56.

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

Crude oil prices bounced higher on Friday on geopolitical tensions after new U.S. sanctions against a Chinese refinery that purchased Iranian oil. West Texas Intermediate crude for May delivery climbed $0.23 or 0.3 percent to $68.30 a barrel.