Australian Market Notably Lower

(RTTNews) - Giving up the gains in the previous session, the Australian stock market is notably lower on Friday, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is falling below the 7,000 mark, dragged by weakness in energy, financial and technology stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 40.60 points or 0.58 percent to 6,974.30, after hitting a low of 6,964.20 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 40.50 points or 0.56 percent to 7,174.60. Australian markets ended modestly higher on Thursday.

Among major miners, BHP Group and Rio Tinto are gaining almost 1 percent each, while Fortescue Metals is adding more than 1 percent. Mineral Resources is losing more than 1 percent. Oil stocks are mostly lower. Santos is losing almost 1 percent and Origin Energy is declining almost 2 percent, while Woodside Energy and Beach energy are down more than 1 percent each.

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

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank and Westpac are losing almost 1 percent each, while ANZ Banking is down more than 1 percent and National Australia Bank is declining more than 2 percent. Gold miners are mostly lower. Northern Star Resources is losing more than 1 percent and Evolution Mining is down almost 1 percent, while Resolute Mining is edging up 0.5 percent. Gold Road Resources is flat, while trading in Newcrest Mining is suspended.

In other news, shares in Imugene are skyrocketing more than 20 percent after the cancer drug tech developer officially dosed the first patent in a much-anticipated Phase 1b drug trial based in the US.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.635 on Friday.

On Wall Street, stocks showed a lack of direction for much of morning trading on Thursday but came under considerable pressure in the afternoon. The major averages all showed notable moves to the downside, with the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 snapping their longest winning streaks in two years.

The major averages climbed off their worst levels going into the close but remained firmly negative. The Nasdaq slumped 128.97 points or 0.9 percent to 13,521.45, the S&P 500 slid 35.43 points or 0.8 percent to 4,347.35 and the Dow fell 220.33 points or 0.7 percent to 33,891.94.

Meanwhile, the major European markets moved to the upside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index jumped by 1.1 percent, the German DAX Index and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index advanced by 0.8 percent and 0.7 percent, respectively.

Crude oil prices climbed higher on Thursday after two straight sessions of decline on concerns about the outlook for energy demand. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for December rose $0.41 or 0.5 percent at $75.74 a barrel, due to some short-covering and bargain hunting.