Australian Market Significantly Lower

(RTTNews) - Extending the losses in the previous three sessions, the Australian stock market is significantly lower on Friday, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is falling well below the 7,700 level, with losses across most sectors led by mining and energy stocks amid tumbling commodity prices, and technology stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 71.80 points or 0.92 percent to 7,740.00, after hitting a low of 7,716.90 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 72.60 points or 0.90 percent to 8,010.50. Australian markets ended notably lower on Thursday.

Among major miners, BHP Group is losing almost 1 percent, while Rio Tinto, Mineral Resources and Fortescue Metals are declining more than 1 percent each. Oil stocks are mostly lower. Woodside Energy and Santos are losing almost 1 percent each, while Origin Energy is edging down 0.5 percent. Beach energy is edging up 0.3 percent.

Among tech stocks, WiseTech Global and Xero are edging down 0.1 to 0.4 percent each, while Afterpay owner Block is losing almost 2 percent and Zip is declining more than 1 percent. Appen is surging more than 5 percent after it told investors at its annual general meeting that it expects to reach breakeven on an operating basis in financial 2024.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank, Westpac and National Australia Bank are losing more than 1 percent each, while ANZ Banking is down almost 1 percent. Gold miners are mostly lower. Evolution Mining is losing more than 1 percent, Newmont is edging down 0.5 percent, Northern Star Resources is down almost 1 percent and Gold Road Resources is declining more than 2 percent. Resolute Mining is flat.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.660 on Friday.

On Wall Street, stocks moved mostly higher at the start of trading on Thursday but failed to sustain the initial upward move and came under pressure over the course of the session. The major averages pulled back well off their highs of the session and into negative territory.

After reaching record intraday highs, the Nasdaq fell 65.51 points or 0.4 percent to 16,736.03 and the S&P 500 slid 39.17 points or 0.7 percent to 5,267.84. The narrower Dow showed a more significant move to the downside, tumbling 605.78 points or 1.5 percent to 39,065.26.

Meanwhile, the major European markets also finished the day mixed after seeing early strength. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index fell by 0.4 percent, the German DAX Index and the French CAC 40 Index both inched up by 0.1 percent.

Crude oil prices settled lower on Thursday for a fourth straight session amid concerns about the outlook for demand, and on data showing an unexpected jump in crude inventories in the U.S. last week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for July sank $0.70 or 0.9 percent at $76.87 a barrel.