Australian Market Notably Lower

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is notably lower on Monday, adding the losses in the previous four sessions, despite the broadly positive cues from Wall Street on Friday. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index is falling below the 8,850.00 level, with weakness in gold miners and financial stocks partially offset by gains in iron ore miners, energy and technology stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 40.50 points or 0.46 percent to 8,841.40, after hitting a low of 8,833.40 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 38.30 points or 0.42 percent to 9,139.70. Australian stocks closed slightly lower on Friday.

Among the major miners, Rio Tinto and Fortescue are edging up 0.3 to 0.4 percent each, while Mineral Resources is gaining more than 3 percent each. BHP Group is flat.

Oil stocks are mostly higher. Beach energy is gaining almost 2 percent, while Woodside Energy and Santos are adding almost 1 percent each. Origin Energy is edging down 0.5 percent.

Among tech stocks, Afterpay owner Block is adding almost 3 percent, Zip is advancing almost 2 percent and Xero is up almost 1 percent, while Appen is losing more than 1 percent and WiseTech Global is down almost 1 percent.

Gold miners are weak. Evolution Mining, Genesis Minerals, Northern Star Resources and Newmont are declining almost 2 percent each, while Resolute Mining is tumbling almost 5 percent.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank is losing almost 1 percent, while National Australia Bank and ANZ Banking is edging down 0.2 to 0.3 percent each. Westpac is edging up 0.3 percent.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.654 on Monday.

On Wall Street, stocks saw considerable volatility over the course of the trading day on Friday after showing a strong move to the upside early in the session. The major averages pulled back off their early highs in mid-day trading before moving back to the upside only to once again give back ground going into the end the session.

Despite the late-day pullback, the major averages all ended the day in positive territory. The Nasdaq climbed 143.81 points or 0.6 percent to 23,724.96, the S&P 500 rose 17.86 points or 0.3 percent to 6,840.20 and the Dow inched up 40.75 points or 0.1 percent to 47,562.87.

Meanwhile, the major European markets all moved to the downside on the day. While the German DAX Index is down by 0.6 percent, the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index is down by 0.5 percent and the French CAC 40 Index is down by 0.4 percent.

Crude oil prices edged higher Friday following reports the U.S. intends to strike Venezuelan military installations. West Texas Intermediate crude for December delivery was up $0.41 or 0.68 percent at $60.98 per barrel.