Australian Market Modestly Lower

(RTTNews) - After opening in the green, the Australian stock market is currently trading modestly lower on Monday, extending the losses in the previous session, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 staying below the 7,000.00 mark, following the broadly positive cues from Wall Street on Friday, with traders cautiously awaiting a slew of domestic economic data later in the week that will provide cues on the outlook for interest rates.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 15.60 points or 0.22 percent to 6,960.90, after hitting a low of 6,857.00 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 18.70 points or 0.26 percent to 7,157.90. Australian stocks closed notably lower on Friday.

Among the major miners, Rio Tinto and BHP Group are edging up 0.5 percent each, while Fortescue Metals and Mineral Resources are edging down 0.2 to 0.4 percent each.

Oil stocks are mostly higher. Origin Energy is gaining 1.5 percent and Beach energy is edging up 0.3 percent, while Santos is losing almost 1 percent. Woodside Energy is flat.

Among tech stocks, Afterpay owner Block and WiseTech Global are edging up 0.1 to 0.3 percent each, while Appen is adding more than 1 percent and Zip is advancing almost 3 percent. Xero is losing almost 2 percent.

Gold miners are mostly lower. Gold Road Resources and Evolution Mining are edging down 0.2 percent each, while Northern Star Resources is losing almost 1 percent. Resolute Mining is gaining more than 1 percent.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank is edging up 0.1 percent and National Australia Bank is gaining more than 1 percent, while ANZ Banking is losing more than 3 percent and Westpac edging down 0.4 percent.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.636 on Monday.

On Wall Street, stocks moved showed a substantial move back to the upside during trading on Friday, following the sharp pullback seen Thursday afternoon. The Nasdaq surged to a nearly two-month closing high, while the Dow and the S&P 500 reached their best closing levels in well over a month.

The major averages saw further upside going into the close, ending the session near their best levels of the day. The Nasdaq soared 276.66 points or 2.1 percent to 13,798.11, the S&P 500 spiked 67.89 points or 1.6 percent to 4,415.24 and the Dow jumped 391.16 points or 1.2 percent to 34,283.10.

Meanwhile, the major European markets showed significant moves to downside on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index slumped 1.3 percent, the French CAC 40 Index slid by 1.0 percent and the German DAX Index fell by 0.8 percent.

Crude oil prices rose sharply Friday, but the most active oil futures contract still suffered a third weekly loss as the disruption threats continued to fade. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December ended up $1.43 or 1.9 percent at $77.17 a barrel. WTI crude futures shed more than 4 percent in the week.