Australian Market Slightly Lower

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is slightly lower on Friday, giving up some of the gains in the previous three sessions, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 staying above the 7,300 level, despite the broadly positive cues from global markets overnight, with weakness in iron miners and energy stocks partially offset by gains in gold miners and technology stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 2.8 points or 0.04 percent to 7,354.60, after hitting a low of 7,337.10 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 0.60 points or 0.01 percent to 7,569.10. Australian markets ended modestly higher on Thursday.

Among major miners, BHP Group is edging down 0.3 percent and Rio Tinto is losing more than 1 percent, while Fortescue Metals and Mineral Resources are down almost 1 percent each. Oil stocks are mostly lower. Santos is losing almost 1 percent, Woodside Energy is declining more than 1 percent and Beach energy is slipping almost 2 percent, while Origin Energy is edging up 0.1 percent.

Among tech stocks, Afterpay owner Block is losing almost 2 percent, Appen is down more than 1 percent and WiseTech Global is edging down 0.1 percent, while Zip is gaining more than 1 percent and Xero is edging up 0.2 percent.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank and Westpac are edging up 0.3 to 0.4 percent each, while ANZ Banking is edging down 0.1 percent. National Australia Bank is flat. Gold miners are mostly higher. Northern Star Resources and Evolution Mining are edging up 0.4 to 0.5 percent each, while Resolute Mining is adding almost 1 percent and Gold Road Resources is gaining almost 2 percent. Newcrest Mining is edging down 0.2 percent.

In other news, shares in Star Entertainment are skyrocketing more than 24 percent after the casino operator secured a reprieve on a proposed poker machine tax increase from the NSW government, which has slashed the tax plan by two-thirds.

Shares in Nick Scali are soaring almost 10 percent after the furniture retailer posted a record full-year profit.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.653 on Friday.

On Wall Street, stocks largely offset the rally over the course of the trading day on Thursday after moving sharply higher early in the session. The major averages pulled back well off their highs of the session, ending the day just above the unchanged line.

The Dow surged by more than 450 points in early trading but ended the day up just 52.79 points or 0.2 percent at 35,176.15. The Nasdaq edged up 15.96 points or 0.1 percent at 13,737.99, while the S&P 500 crept up 1.12 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 4,468.83.

The major European markets also moved to the upside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index surged by 1.5 percent, the German DAX Index jumped by 0.9 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index increased by 0.4 percent.

Crude oil prices fell from multi-month highs Thursday amid concerns about the outlook for oil demand from China after imports plummeted. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September ended down $1.58 at $$82.82 a barrel.