Australian Market Notably Lower

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is notably lower on Friday, extending the slight losses in the previous session, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 staying below the 7,200 level, following the mixed cues from global markets overnight, with weakness across most sectors, led by technology stocks. Traders also remain cautious amid the heightened economic uncertainties in China, Australia's largest trading partner.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 27.20 points or 0.38 percent to 7,167.70, after hitting a low of 7,165.70 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 27.40 points or 0.37 percent to 7,362.20. Australian markets ended slightly lower on Thursday.

Among major miners, Mineral Resources is gaining almost 1 percent and BHP Group is edging up 0.3 percent, while Fortescue Metals is edging down 0.4 percent. Rio Tinto is flat.

Oil stocks are mixed. Santos is edging down 0.2 percent, while Beach energy is edging up 0.4 percent. Origin Energy and Woodside Energy are flat.

Among tech stocks, Afterpay owner Block is losing almost 2 percent, while Xero and WiseTech Global are edging down 0.3 to 0.4 percent each. Zip and Appen are flat.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank is edging up 0.1 percent, Westpac and National Australia Bank are edging down 0.1 percent each. ANZ Banking is flat.

Gold miners are mixed. Northern Star Resources is edging up 0.3 percent, while Evolution Mining and Newcrest Mining are gaining almost 1 percent each. Resolute Mining is losing almost 4 percent. Gold Road Resources is flat.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.661 on Friday.

On Wall Street, stocks once again turned in a relatively lackluster performance throughout much of the trading day on Thursday but managed to close mostly higher following the mixed performance seen in the previous session.

The Dow showed a notable advance, with the blue chip index climbing 269.76 points or 0.8 percent to 34,122.42, the S&P 500 also rose 19.58 points or 0.5 percent to 4,396.44, while the Nasdaq closed nearly unchanged, edging down 0.42 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 13,591.33.

The major European markets also finished the day mixed. While the French CAC 40 Index rose by 0.4 percent, the German DAX Index closed just below the unchanged line and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index fell by 0.4 percent.

Crude oil prices climbed higher on Thursday, continuing to benefit from yesterday's report showing a huge decline in crude oil stockpiles in the week ended June 23. Concerns about rising interest rates and economic slowdown limited the uptick in oil prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for August ended higher by $0.30 or about 0.4% at $69.86 a barrel.