Asian Markets Track Wall Street Lower

(RTTNews) - Asian stock markets are trading mostly lower on Monday, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street on Friday, as traders react to a report showing consumer sentiment in the U.S. deteriorated by much more than expected in February amid a surge by year-ahead inflation expectations. Asian markets closed mixed on Friday.

Meanwhile, U.S. President Donald Trump's comments have raised hopes of de-escalation in the trade war between the world's two largest economies. Trump told reporters that a trade deal with China "is possible" in an interview aboard Air Force One.

The Australian stock market is trading slightly higher on Monday after opening deep in the red, snapping a five-session losing streak, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street on Friday. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index is moving a tad above the 8,300.00 level, with strong gains in financial stocks nearly offset by weakness across most other sectors led by gold miners and technology stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 5.90 points or 0.07 percent to 8,302.10, after hitting a low of 8,216.30 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 16.30 points or 0.19 percent to 8,554.60. Australian stocks closed modestly lower on Friday.

Among the major miners, BHP Group is losing more than 1 percent, Rio Tinto is slipping more than 2 percent, Fortescue Metals is edging down 0.2 percent and Mineral Resources is declining almost 3 percent. Oil stocks are mostly lower. Santos is declining more than 2 percent, Beach energy is down almost 1 percent and Woodside Energy is edging down 0.3 percent, while Origin Energy is gaining more than 1 percent.

Among tech stocks, Zip is losing almost 3 percent, Xero is declining more than 1 percent, Appen is edging down 0.3 percent, while Afterpay owner Block is plummeting almost 13 percent after reporting downbeat results.

WiseTech Global is tumbling more than 22 percent after the chairman and three independent directors resigned due to intractable differences about the ongoing role of the logistic software company's founder, Richard White.

Gold miners are mostly lower. Evolution Mining, Gold Road Resources and Northern Star Resources are losing almost 2 percent each, while Newmont is declining almost 3 percent and Resolute Mining is sliding almost 5 percent.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank, ANZ Banking and National Australia Bank are gaining almost 2 percent each, while Westpac is adding more than 1 percent.

In other news, shares in NIB Holdings are jumping almost 15 percent after first-half results showed growth in its core Australian health insurance business.

Shares in Iress are tumbling more than 16 percent despite the software provider swinging to an profit in fiscal 2024.

Shares in APA Group are surging more than 7 percent after the energy infrastructure company reaffirmed for distributions and earnings in 2025.

Shares in Nuix are plunging more than 9 percent after the company reported downbeat first-half results.

Shares in Reece are plunging more than 11 percent after reporting a decline in revenue and net profit in the first half of the financial year, reflecting challenging trading conditions.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.639 on Monday.

The Japanese stock market is closed on Monday on Monday in observance of the Emperor's birthday. Japanese shares ended modestly higher on Friday.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the lower 149 yen-range on Monday.

Elsewhere in Asia, New Zealand is down 1.5 percent, while South Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia and Taiwan are lower by between 0.4 and 0.9 percent each. Hong Kong and Singapore are up 0.2 and 0.5 percent, respectively. China is relatively flat.

On Wall Street, stocks moved sharply lower over the course of the trading day on Friday, extending the pullback seen during Thursday's session. The major averages all showed significant moves to the downside, with the Dow tumbling to its lowest closing level in a month.

The major averages moved roughly sideways going into the close, lingering near their worst levels of the day. The Dow plunged 748.63 points or 1.7 percent to 43,428.02, the Nasdaq dove 438.36 points or 2.2 percent to 19,524.01 and the S&P 500 slumped 104.39 points or 1.7 percent to 6,013.13.

Meanwhile, the major European markets turned in a mixed performance on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index climbed by0.4 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index closed just below the unchanged line and the German DAX Index edged down by 0.1 percent.

Crude oil prices fell sharply to a two-month low on Friday, weighed down by concerns over the outlook for demand, and data showing a jump in crude inventories. A stronger dollar also fueled oil's decline. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April lost $2.08 or 2.9 percent at $70.40 a barrel. WTI crude futures shed 0.5 percent in the week.