Australian Market Slightly Lower

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is slightly lower in choppy trading on Monday, adding to the losses in the previous two sessions, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 staying below the 7,700.00 level, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street on Friday, as traders remain cautious ahead of the Reserve Bank of Australia's monetary policy meeting this week, where the RBA is widely expected to maintain its hawkish stance.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 12.30 points or 0.16 percent to 7,658.00, after hitting a low of 7,642.00 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 13.50 points or 0.17 percent to 7,910.30. Australian stocks closed notably lower on Friday.

Among the major miners, Rio Tinto and Mineral Resources are edging up 0.3 to 0.5 percent each, while Fortescue Metals is losing more than 1 percent. BHP Group is flat.

Oil stocks are mixed. Beach energy is gaining more than 1 percent. Origin Energy and Woodside Energy are losing almost 1 percent each, while Santos is edging down 0.1 percent. Among tech stocks, Afterpay owner Block and Xero are losing almost 1 percent, while Appen is surging more than 7 percent, Zip is gaining more than 5 percent and WiseTech Global is edging up 0.4 percent.

Gold miners are higher. Gold Road Resources is gaining more than 1 percent. Northern Star Resources and Evolution Mining are edging up 0.1 to 0.5 percent each, while Newmont and Resolute Mining are adding more than 1 percent each.

Among the big four banks, Westpac is losing almost 1 percent, while ANZ Banking and National Australia Bank are edging down 0.3 percent each. Commonwealth Bank is edging up 0.2 percent.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.656 on Monday.

On Wall Street, stocks moved mostly lower over the course of the trading session on Friday, with traders looking ahead to next week's Federal Reserve meeting. With the downward move, the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 closed lower for the third straight day.

The major averages finished the day off their worst levels but still firmly negative. The Nasdaq slumped 155.36 points or 1.0 percent to 15,973.17, the S&P 500 slid 33.39 points or 0.7 percent to 5,117.09 and the Dow fell 190.89 points or 0.5 percent to 38,714.77.

Meanwhile, the major European markets turned in a lackluster performance on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index dipped by 0.2 percent, the German DAX Index and the French CAC 40 Index ended the day roughly flat.

Crude oil prices dropped on Friday, retreating from multi-month highs, due largely to profit taking after recent strong gains. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April ended down by $0.22 at $81.04 a barrel.