Australian Market Significantly Lower

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is significantly lower on Friday, snapping a four-session winning streak, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 falling a tad below the 7,400 level, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight, with weakness across most sectors, led by gold miners and financial stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 61.00 points or 0.82 percent to 7,394.90, after hitting a low of 7,376.30 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 66.20 points or 0.86 percent to 7,606.40. Australian markets ended significantly higher on Thursday.

Among major miners, Rio Tinto is edging down 0.5 percent, while Fortescue Metals and Mineral Resources are losing almost 3 percent each. BHP Group is flat. Oil stocks are mixed. Santos and Origin Energy are edging up 0.4 to 0.5 percent each, while Woodside Energy is gaining more than 1 percent. Beach energy is losing almost 1 percent.

Among tech stocks, Afterpay owner Block and WiseTech Global are losing almost 1 percent each, while Zip and Appen are declining almost 2 percent each. Xero is down more than 1 percent.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank is losing more than 1 percent and ANZ Banking is edging down 0.5 percent, while Westpac and National Australia Bank are declining almost 1 percent each. Gold miners are mostly lower. Northern Star Resources and Newcrest Mining are losing more than 3 percent each, while Evolution Mining is declining almost 5 percent, Gold Road Resources is sliding more than 6 percent and Resolute Mining is plunging more than 7 percent.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.670 on Friday.

On Wall Street, stocks showed a significant downturn over the course of the trading day on Thursday after showing a strong move to the upside early in the session. The major averages pulled back well off their best levels of the day and into negative territory.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq fell 77.17 points or 0.6 percent to 14,050.11 after surging as much as 1.7 percent in early trading. The S&P 500 also slid 29.34 points or 0.6 percent to 4,537.41, while the Dow slumped 237.40 points or 0.7 percent to 35,282.72, snapping a 13-day winning streak.

The major European markets have also moved to the upside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index spiked by 2.1 percent, the German DAX Index surged by 1.7 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index edged up by 0.2 percent.

Crude oil prices climbed higher on Thursday thanks to prospects of tighter supply in the market due to production cuts by OPEC and allies. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September jumped $1.31 or 1.7 percent at $80.09 a barrel.