Australian Market Halves Early Sharp Losses In Mid-market

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is nearly halving its early sharp losses in mid-market trading on Monday, extending the sharp losses in the previous two sessions, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street on Friday. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index is tumbling almost 4 percent to below the 7,4000 level, with strong losses across all sectors led by mining and energy stocks as the global trade war ignited by the U.S. raises fears of a global recession.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 304.00 points or 3.97 percent to 7,363.80, after hitting a low of 7,169.20 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 309.30 points or 3.94 percent to 7,538.30. Australian stocks closed sharply lower on Friday.

Among the major miners, BHP Group is tumbling more than 5 percent, Rio Tinto is plunging almost 4 percent, Mineral Resources is plummeting almost 10 percent and Fortescue Metals is slipping almost 6 percent. Oil stocks are sharply lower. Woodside Energy and Beach energy are tumbling more than 5 percent each, while Santos is plummeting almost 10 percent and Origin Energy is slipping almost 4 percent.

Among tech stocks, Afterpay owner Block is slipping more than 5 percent, Xero is losing more than 2 percent, WiseTech Global is declining almost 1 percent, Appen is tumbling almost 6 percent and Zip is sliding almost 10 percent.

Gold miners are lower. Evolution Mining is plummeting almost 7 percent, Gold Road Resources is losing almost 2 percent, Northern Star Resources is slipping 2.5 percent, Resolute Mining is sliding almost 9 percent and Newmont is declining more than 4 percent.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank is tumbling more than 4 percent and ANZ Banking is sliding almost 5 percent, while National Australia Bank and Westpac are declining more than 4 percent each.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.601 on Monday.