Australian Market Slightly Lower

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is slightly lower on Monday, after the relatively flat close in the previous session, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street on Friday. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index is staying a tad above the 8,600.00 level, with weakness in financial stocks and a mixed performance ins most other sectors.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 13.40 points or 0.16 percent to 8,600.70, after touching a high of 8,624.70 and a low of 8,599.60 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 16.10 points or 0.18 percent to 8,902.60. Australian stocks closed relatively flat on Friday.

Among the major miners, BHP Group is gaining almost 1 percent, while Rio Tinto and Fortescue are edging up 0.2 to 0.4 percent each. Mineral Resources is declining almost 3 percent.

Oil stocks are mixed. Beach energy and Santos are edging down 0.3 to 0.4 percent each, while Woodside Energy and Origin Energy are edging up 0.1 to 0.2 percent each.

Among tech stocks, Afterpay owner Block, Zip and WiseTech Global are gaining almost 1 percent each, while Xero is advancing almost 3 percent. Appen is losing more than 1 percent.

Gold miners are mixed. Northern Star Resources and Resolute Mining are advancing almost 2 percent each, while Genesis Minerals is declining almost 2 percent, Evolution Mining is losing almost 1 percent and Newmont is edging down 0.4 percent.

Among the big four banks, Westpac, ANZ Banking and National Australia Bank are losing almost 1 percent each. Commonwealth Bank is flat.

In other news, shares in AUB Group are tumbling more than 16 percent after terminating takeover talks with suitors EQT and CVC.

Treasury Wine Estates after warning it would book significant non-cash impairment on its US operations, with all $687.4 million of goodwill to be written off. The shares are down more than2 percent.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.654 on Monday.

On Wall Street, stocks extended their pre-holiday rally during trading on Friday, with traders returning to their desks following the Thanksgiving Day holiday on Thursday. The major averages all moved to the upside on the day, closing higher for the fifth consecutive session.

The major averages ended the day just off their highs of the session. The Dow climbed 289.30 points or 0.6 percent to 47,716.42, the Nasdaq advanced 151.00 points or 0.7 percent to 23,365.69 and the S&P 500 rose 36.48 points or 0.5 percent to 6,849.09.

The major European markets all also moved to the upside on the day. The German DAX Index, the French CAC 40 Index and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index all rose by 0.3 percent.

Crude oil prices edged higher on Friday a proposed peace deal to end the Russia-Ukraine war remains in limbo. West Texas Intermediate crude for January delivery was up $0.18 or 0.31 percent at $58.83 per barrel.