Australian Market Notably Lower

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is currently trading notably lower on Monday, adding to the losses in the previous two sessions, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 staying below the 7,800.00 level, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street on Friday, with weakness across most sectors led by gold miners and technology stocks. The rising geopolitical tensions in the middle-east weighed on sentiment.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 38.80 points or 0.50 percent to 7,749.30, after hitting a low of 7,740.80 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 44.80 points or 0.56 percent to 8,005.40. Australian stocks closed modestly lower on Friday.

Among the major miners, Rio Tinto is gaining more than 2 percent, BHP Group is adding almost 1 percent and Fortescue Metals is edging up 0.3 percent, while Mineral Resources is losing more than 1 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly higher. Santos and Woodside Energy are edging up 0.2 to 0.3 percent each, while Beach energy is gaining more than 1 percent. Origin Energy is losing almost 1 percent. Among tech stocks, Xero and WiseTech Global are losing almost 2 percent each, while Appen is sliding more than 7 percent, Afterpay owner Block is declining 2.5 percent and Zip is slipping almost 3 percent.

Gold miners are lower. Gold Road Resources is sliding more than 6 percent, Resolute Mining is losing almost 2 percent and Newmont is slipping almost 1 percent, while Evolution Mining and Northern Star Resources are down more than 1 percent each.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank losing more than 1 percent and National Australia Bank is down almost 1 percent, while Westpac and ANZ Banking are edging down 0.4 percenteach.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.647 on Monday.

On Wall Street, stocks closed sharply lower on Friday, as geopolitical tensions, inflation worries and mixed earnings and guidance from major banks rendered the mood a bit bearish.

The major averages all ended in the red. The Dow ended with a loss of 475.84 points or 1.24 percent at 37,983.24. The S&P 500 drifted down 75.65 points or 1.46 percent to 5,123.41, while the Nasdaq settled at 16,175.09 with a loss of 267.10 points or 1.62 percent.

Meanwhile, the major European markets ended mixed. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 climbed 0.91 percent, while Germany's DAX and France's CAC 40 ended lower by 0.13 percent and 0.16 percent, respectively.

Crude oil prices moved higher on Friday amid concerns about the outlook for supply due to rising tensions in the Middle East between Iran and Israel. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for May ended higher by $0.64 at $85.66 a barrel.