Australian Market Modestly Lower

(RTTNews) - Reversing the slight gains in the previous session, the Australian stock market is trading modestly lower on Tuesday after opening in the green, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is falling below the 8,400 level, with weakness in technology and financial stocks partially offset gains in mining and energy stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 30.10 points or 0.36 percent to 8,392.90, after touching a high of 8,447.70 and a low of 8,386.20 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 34.90 points or 0.40 percent to 8,652.10. Australian stocks closed slightly higher on Monday.

Among the major miners, BHP Group is gaining almost 4 percent, Rio Tinto is advancing more than 5 percent, Fortescue Metals is surging almost 7 percent and Mineral Resources is climbing almost 6 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly higher. Woodside Energy and Santos are gaining more than 1 percent each, while Beach energy is advancing more than 2 percent. Origin Energy is edging down 0.2 percent.

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

Gold miners are higher. Gold Road Resources is gaining almost 3 percent, Newmont is adding almost 2 percent, Northern Star resources is advancing more than 2 percent, Resolute Mining is rising almost 4 percent and Evolution Mining is up more than 3 percent.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank, ANZ Banking and Westpac are losing almost 2 percent each, while National Australia Bank is declining more than 2 percent.

In other news, shares in Perpetual are tumbling more than 6 percent on news that it could be hit with a tax bill of more than $500 million over the sale of assets to private equity giant KKR.

Shares in Life360 are slipping almost 6 percent on news the stock's weighting in the Russell indexes was miscalculated, forcing passive funds to re-adjust their positions.

In economic news, the Reserve Bank of Australia will wrap up its monetary policy meeting on Tuesday and then announce its decision on interest rates. The RBA is expected to keep its benchmark lending rate steady at 4.35 percent.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.643 on Tuesday.

On Wall Street, stocks moved mostly lower over the course of the trading day on Monday after showing a lack of direction early in the session. The major averages all moved to the downside, with the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 pulling back off last Friday's record closing highs.

The major averages finished the day firmly in negative territory. The Dow fell 240.59 points or 0.5 percent to 44,401.93, the Nasdaq slid 123.08 points or 0.6 percent to 19,736.69 and the S&P 500 declined 37.42 points or 0.6 percent to 6,052.85.

Meanwhile, European stocks moved mostly higher on the day. The French CAC 40 Index advanced by 0.7 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index rose by 0.5 percent, although the German DAX Index bucked the uptrend and dipped by 0.2 percent.

Crude oil prices climbed higher on geopolitical tensions and optimism that the Chinese central bank will loosen its monetary policy to boost economic growth. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for January closed up $1.17 or 1.74 percent at $68.37 a barrel.