Australian Market Modestly Lower

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is modestly lower on Tuesday, extending the losses in the previous session, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 falling to a tad above the 7,200 level, despite the slightly positive cues from Wall Street overnight, dragged by weakness in financial and technology stocks, partially offset by gains in gold miners and energy stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 21.90 points or 0.30 percent to 7,208.50, after hitting a low of 7,192.10 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 22.00 points or 0.30 percent to 7,406.10. Australian stocks closed notably lower on Monday.

Among the major miners, BHP Group is losing almost 1 percent, Rio Tinto is edging down 0.2 percent and Fortescue Metals is down more than 1 percent. Mineral Resources is flat. Oil stocks are mostly higher. Santos is gaining almost 1 percent, while Woodside Energy and Beach energy are edging up 0.2 to 0.3 percent each. Origin Energy is edging down 0.1 percent. Among tech stocks, Afterpay owner Block is losing 4.5 percent and Zip is declining almost 2 percent, while WiseTech Global and Xero are edging down 0.3 to 0.5 percent each. Appen is edging up 0.4 percent. Gold miners are mostly higher. Northern Star resources, Newcrest Mining and Resolute Mining are gaining more than 1 percent each, while Evolution Mining is adding 1.5 percent and Gold Road Resources is advancing almost 2 percent.

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

In economic news, the Reserve Bank of Australia will on Tuesday release the minutes from its September meeting. At the meeting, Australia's central bank left its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 4.10 percent for the third straight meeting. The interest rate paid on exchange settlement balances also was kept unchanged at 4.00 percent.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.644 on Tuesday.

On Wall Street, stocks turned in a relatively lackluster performance during trading on Monday following the volatility seen to close out the previous week. The major averages spent the day bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line.

The major averages eventually ended the session slightly higher. While the S&P 500 edged up 3.21 points or 0.1 percent to 4,453.53, the Dow inched up 6.06 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 34,624.30 and the Nasdaq crept up 1.90 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 13,710.24.

Meanwhile, the major European markets moved to the downside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index plunged by 1.4 percent, the German DAX Index dove by 1.1 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index fell by 0.7 percent.

Crude oil prices settled higher on Monday, rising for a third straight session on global supply issues and a weaker dollar. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for October rose $0.71 or 0.8 percent at $91.48 a barrel, the highest settlement this year.