Australian Markets Notably Lower

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is notably lower on Monday, extending the slight losses in the previous session, following the mixed cues from Wall Street on Friday. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index is falling below the 8,900.00 level, with weakness in gold miners, financial and technology stocks partially offset by gains in energy stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 67.30 points or 0.75 percent to 8,893.30, after hitting a low of 8,889.60 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 76.10 points or 0.83 percent to 9,079.70. Australian stocks closed slightly lower on Friday.

Among the major miners, Rio Tinto and BHP Group are edging up 0.1 to 0.4 percent each, while Fortescue is gaining almost 1 percent. Mineral Resources is losing almost 1 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly higher. Beach energy is gaining almost 4 percent, Woodside Energy is adding more than 3 percent and Santos is advancing more than 2 percent, while Origin Energy is losing almost 1 percent.

Among tech stocks, Afterpay owner Block is declining almost 3 percent, WiseTech Global is losing more than 2 percent, Appen is slipping almost 4 percent, Zip is tumbling almost 6 percent and Xero is down almost 2 percent.

Gold miners are lower. Northern Star Resources and Evolution Mining are losing almost 4 percent each, while Resolute Mining is slipping more than 4 percent, Newmont is down more than 1 percent and Genesis Minerals is declining almost 3 percent.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank is edging down 0.3 percent and National Australia Bank is losing more than 1 percent, while ANZ Banking and Westpac are down almost 1 percent each. In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.703 on Monday.

On Wall Street, stocks turned in a relatively lackluster performance during trading on Friday after recovering from an initial pullback to end Thursday's session mostly higher. The major averages fluctuated over the course of the session before closing mixed.

While the tech-heavy Nasdaq climbed 80.48 points or 0.4 percent to a more than one-month closing high of 22,902.89, the S&P 500 edged down 7.77 points or 0.1 percent to 6,816.89 and the Dow slid 269.23 points or 0.6 percent to 47,916.57.

Meanwhile, the major European markets ended the day little changed. While the French CAC 40 Index crept up by 0.2 percent, the German DAX Index and the U.K's FTSE 100 Index both closed just below the unchanged line.

Crude oil prices slumped Friday despite persistent tensions surrounding the Strait of Hormuz. West Texas Intermediate crude for May delivery was down $1.15 or 1.18 percent at $96.72 per barrel.