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, amid spiking crude oil prices as well as a sell-off in technology and semiconductor stocks on concerns of returns on huge AI infrastructure spending. Escalating Middle East tensions and attacks on commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz kept oil-supply disruption risks in focus. Asian markets closed mostly higher on Friday.

The Australian stock market is modestly higher on Monday, extending the gains in the previous session, despite the broadly negative cues from Wall Street on Friday. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index is moving above the 8,800.00 level, with gains in energy and financial stocks partially offset by weakness in gold miners and technology stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is gaining 22.20 points or 0.25 percent to 8,828.90, after touching a high of 8,849.90 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is up 15.00 points or 0.17 percent to 8,955.40. Australian stocks closed significantly higher on Friday.

Among the major miners, BHP Group is gaining almost 1 percent and Fortescue is edging up 0.3 percent, while Mineral Resources is losing almost 1 percent and Rio Tinto is edging down 0.1 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly higher. Woodside Energy, Santos and Beach energy are gaining almost 2 percent each. Origin Energy is edging up 0.2 percent.

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

Gold miners are mostly lower. Northern Star Resources is losing almost 1 percent, while Evolution Mining, Resolute Mining and Genesis Minerals are declining almost 2 percent each. Newmont is gaining more than 2 percent.

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

In other news, shares in Cleanaway are soaring almost 20 percent on news the Swedish buyout giant EQT had signed a deal to take the waste management company private.

Shares in Challenger are spiking more than 17 percent on news that the annuities giant is considering a takeover offer from Japan's Daiichi Life worth $7.8 billion.

Shares in Ingenia Communities are surging more than 7 percent ahead of the decision deadline given by US private equity group Warburg Pincus for its $2.14 billion takeover offer.

Shares in Mesoblast are tumbling more than 9 percent after reporting in a quarterly update that its revenue and sales fell well short of market expectations.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.698 on Monday.

The Japanese stock market is sharply lower on Monday, reversing some of the gains in the previous session, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street on Friday. The Nikkei 225 is falling below the 64,550 level, with weakness across most sectors led by index heavyweights and technology stocks.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index closed the morning session at 64,534.03, down 790.26 points or 1.21 percent, after hitting a low of 63,831.78 earlier. Japanese shares ended sharply higher on Friday.

Market heavyweight SoftBank Group is slipping more than 4 percent and Uniqlo operator Fast Retailing is losing more than 1 percent. Among automakers, Honda is edging up 0.1 percent, while Toyota is losing almost 1 percent.

In the tech space, Advantest is declining almost 3 percent, Tokyo Electron is losing more than 2 percent and Screen Holdings is slipping almost 4 percent.

In the banking sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial are declining almost 2 percent each, while Mizuho Financial is losing more than 1 percent.

The major exporters are mostly lower. Mitsubishi Electric is losing more than 1 percent and Canon is edging down 0.4 percent, while Sony and Panasonic are down almost 1 percent each.

Among the other major losers, Taiyo Yuden is plunging more than 7 percent, Lasertec, Mercari and Ibiden are tumbling almost 5 percent each. Sumco, Furukawa Electric and Resonac Holdings are declining more than 4 percent each, while Murata Manufacturing, Sumitomo Electric Industries and Kokusai Electric are losing almost 4 percent each. JX Advanced Metals is down more than 3 percent.

Conversely, SHIFT and Toho are surging more than 5 percent each, while BayCurrent is advancing more than 4 percent and Aeon is gaining almost 3 percent.

In the currency market, the U.S. dollar is trading in the higher 157 yen-range on Monday.

Elsewhere in Asia, Indonesia and Taiwan are tumbling 5.1 and 1.9 percent, respectively. New Zealand, Malaysia and South Korea are lower by between 0.4 and 0.7 percent each. Singapore is bucking the trend and is up 0.1 percent. China is relatively flat. Hong Kong is closed for the Chung Yeung Festival.

On Wall Street, stocks showed a significant move back to the downside during trading on Friday after recovering from an early slump to end Thursday's session mostly higher. Technology stocks led the way lower, dragging the tech-heavy Nasdaq down to its lowest closing level in a month.

The Nasdaq ended the day off its lows of the session but still plunged 572.99 points or 2.1 percent to 26,140.03. The S&P 500 also slumped 84.62 points or 1.1 percent to 7,659.44, while the narrower Dow posted a more modest loss, falling 175.28 points or 0.3 percent to 52,002.41.

Meanwhile, the major European markets also moved to the upside on the day. While the German DAX Index jumped by 1 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index climbed by 0.4 percent and the French CAC 40 Index rose by 0.3 percent.

Crude oil prices rallied again on Friday, surging above $100 a barrel for the first time in a month as Iran re-escalated its attacks in the Strait of Hormuz. West Texas Intermediate crude for November delivery spiked $3.33 or 3.4 percent to $101.30 a barrel.